How the Left and Right Are Both Getting Trans Kids Wrong
Democrats dismiss social influences on trans kids, Republicans see it too often.
Updated October 23, 2025 | Reviewed by Abigail Fagan
This post is Part I of a series.
According to the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law, about 724,000 youth ages 13–17 in the United States identify as transgender. This corresponds to approximately 3.3% of that age group, and these numbers are rising (Herman & Flores, 2025).
Although a 3.3% prevalence rate among adolescents may not seem like a lot, the issue of youth transitioning has taken on an outsized role in American political discourse. Politicians on both the left and right have made trans youth a focal point of their platforms, each claiming to be better at “protecting” children than the other.
As a child and family psychologist who has spent many years working with trans kids, I can tell you this: both political parties often get much of this all wrong, but each also gets parts of it right.
This is a two-part post. Here in Part I, I’ll begin by describing what the Democrats are getting both right and wrong about trans kids. In Part II, I’ll do the same for the Republicans.
The Democratic Perspective
Democrats generally affirm the existence and validity of gender dysphoria and strongly advocate for transgender rights. This includes supporting a child's right to express their gender identity free from discrimination and oppression. Democrats also promote gender-affirming environments in schools, where children can use chosen names and pronouns, and where they receive age-appropriate information about gender diversity.
Here, the Democrats get it right, and I strongly support these positions. Every child deserves to be free from discrimination and raised in communities that safeguard their dignity. These are basic human rights, regardless of one’s stance on gender identity .
In my experience, parents with more progressive views tend to be more open-minded and accepting when their children come out to them as trans. Although they might initially be surprised, many quickly become supportive and affirming.
However, things aren’t always so simple, and this is where the conversation becomes more complicated.
A Closer Look at How Trans Identities Emerge
There is growing reason to believe that not all young people come to identify as trans in the same way. This is a key distinction that both major political parties often overlook.
In 2018, researcher Lisa Littman introduced the concept of rapid-onset gender dysphoria (ROGD). This emerged from reports by parents whose children—mostly natal females—experienced a relatively sudden onset of gender dysphoria, often around puberty.
These children typically had not shown signs of gender nonconformity earlier in life, such as preferring toys, activities, or clothing typically associated with the opposite gender. In addition, many had joined new peer groups, often online, in which others also identified as trans. Parents also noticed a sharp increase in social media use leading up to their child’s coming out.
Littman’s study received significant criticism. The criticism wasn’t focused as much on the idea of ROGD itself; rather, critics raised concerns about the sample of parents Littman used to arrive at her conclusions (Leonhart et al, 2025). In response to this criticism, the journal that published Littman's study, PLOS ONE, conducted a thorough editorial review and stood by the study after Littman clarified how her sample was obtained and made a few small changes to the article.
More research is needed on ROGD, but the argument has some merit. In addition, as we’ll see shortly, ROGD is consistent with other research on social influences.
In clinical practice, many of us have observed patterns similar to those Littman described. Some adolescents who come out as trans have no earlier indicators of gender dysphoria and are heavily involved in online communities where trans identity is a dominant theme. These adolescents often have difficulty fitting into more traditional peer groups, and their online interactions offer the acceptance and community they struggle to find elsewhere.
In many cases, I have observed kids in the suspected ROGD group move away from a trans identity over time—sometimes within months—especially as their relationship with their parents improves and their overall mental health stabilizes. No one has talked them out of it; they just gradually shift their perspective. Importantly, though, how parents respond to their child’s coming out often influences the outcome, a point I will return to shortly.
Social Influence and Identity
The ROGD hypothesis is plausible when considered in conjunction with what we already know about the power of social influence. Decades of research, including work by Dishion and Tipsord (2011) and Christakis and Fowler (2013), have shown that behaviors and attitudes are contagious within social networks. Whether it’s clothing choice, music preferences, slang, or emotional states, teenagers are highly influenced by their peers.
It would be illogical to assume that gender identity is somehow exempt from these same social influences, nor is there any empirical evidence supporting this view. We know adolescents imitate the behavior of one another constantly, so it's not far-fetched to believe that, for some, identification as trans could be influenced by their immediate social environment.
This is where Democrats tend to fall short. While they are right to support trans youth and oppose discrimination, they often overlook how powerful social forces can shape a teen’s emerging sense of identity.
So, not all kids appear to be trans from birth, despite many on the left believing this to be true.
In Part II of this series, I’ll describe the Republican perspective on trans kids and talk about where they get it right and where they don’t.
Christakis, N. A., & Fowler, J. H. (2013). Social contagion theory: Examining dynamic social networks and human behavior. Statistics in Medicine, 32 (4), 556–577. https://doi.org/10.1002/sim.5408
Dishion, T. J., & Tipsord, J. M. (2011). Peer contagion in child and adolescent social and emotional development. Annual Review of Psychology, 62 , 189–214. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.093008.100412
Herman, J. L., & Flores, A. R. (2025, August). How many adults and youth identify as transgender in the United States? The Williams Institute, UCLA School of Law. https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/publications/trans-adults-united-states/
Leonhardt A, Fuchs M, Gander M, Sevecke K. Gender dysphoria in adolescence: examining the rapid-onset hypothesis. Neuropsychiatr. 2025 Mar;39(1):1-10. doi: 10.1007/s40211-024-00500-8
Littman, L. (2018). Parent reports of adolescents and young adults perceived to show signs of a rapid onset of gender dysphoria. PLOS ONE, 13 (8), e0202330. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0202330
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Paul Sunseri, Psy.D., is a family psychologist and the author of Gentle Parenting Reimagined: How to Make It Work With Oppositional and Defiant Kids.
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