HuffPost Blog: The Plight of Trans Students

[Carolyn Marie]

Pretty good blog post, with some thoughtful (finally) comments.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/josh-a-goodman/acknowledging-lgbts-t_b_1664229.html

Carolyn Marie

[VickySGV]

I think that he does indeed nail a couple of problems T folks have as far as portrayal in statistical data bases go. As a fairly astute and able statistician my self, I agree that as long as we are part of a greater number population that is making strides and gaining acceptance, there are outsiders who wil feel smug and righteous that they are helping us. Certainly, when attacks on GLB students have dropped from 10 to 3, it is impressive as an improvement. The problem for both sides was that in the prior sample of 10 attacks, three had been transgendered. Deeper analysis shows that in the current sample, all three attacks are ALL transgender people. This is an invalid description if it says a 70% drop in GLBT attacks, when in reality it is a 100% drop in GLB attacks, and a 0% reduction of Trans attacks. Stats are fun if you know how to play with them.

Good piece---

[Carolyn Marie]

What's that old quote, popularized by Mark Twain? "There are three kinds of lies; lies, damned lies, and statistics."

I could not agree more.

Carolyn Marie