File Photo Recent results from the Auckland University student survey Youth 2012 state that transgender students appear in the results at one per cent of those included in the study of 8,500 students. Much as it is important for society to recognise these figures, if true then NZ has an epidemic on its hands of serious proportions. See Report Link: - http://ebooks.fmhs.auckland.ac.nz/youth12-overview-report/ At first I was elated to think that finally there might be research done that showed the existence of and numbers of trans* people in NZ, something that would be a first for this country then the reality struck, this cannot be. Worldwide there have been many estimates of the numbers of trans* people in society, numbers have ranged from 1 in 30,000 to 1 in 10,000 but never as high as 1 in 100. The organisers of this report state they are looking for funds to expand their results, indeed an important mission, and one that should be of great concern to the Government who would rather trans* people did not exist. At least that seems to be the case when trans* people continue to ask, and have done so since 2008 for their Gender Identity to be included in the Human Rights Act. I suspect the potential for error exists in all surveys but in this survey it is my belief that the questions about whether the student thought they were transgender was too brief and simplistic given that few would really be aware what being transgender meant, much as in the same way most cisgender persons do not know. As a trans woman and an ex teacher I believe there is something wrong with the figures here and while I applaud the inclusion of transgender in such a survey, in my teaching experience where I saw between 1,200 to 1,500 students every year, for these figures to be correct that would relate to 12 to 15 of my students being transgender, this was never the case, believe me I would have known. I am mindful however of the way some trans* students, even adults choose to remain hidden from society because of the way they are shamefully treated by some in society, but I do not think that has suddenly changed. On a final and personal word, I really truly hope these figures are wrong, being trans* is not a choice. For me and many others that I know, it is a path to much confusion, pain, discrimination and potential violence that no one should ever have to endure! It is for this reason the need to analyse the current research is so very important, as the impact on our youth of getting it wrong is potentially devastating on the whole of society. Do you agree? Disagree? Have something you want to get off your chest? GayNZ.com welcomes community writing submissions. Just email them to news@gaynz.com Diane Sparkes - 13th August 2013