I think when they said "normalized," they meant it in the statistical sense. As in normalizing data against a larger set. Whereas you seem to have read it in the sociological sense of "validating." So that could be a potential source of the disconnect here.

For what it's worth, I don't necessarily agree with them. But I think what they were trying to say is that pointing out the difference in attempted suicide rates between trans people and national averages, is a bit like pointing out the higher instances of glycemia-related medical emergencies between type-1 diabetics and the national average. Of course it will be higher.

Again, I think it was a hamfisted attempt and not necessarily helpful, especially without diving into the intricacies of correlation and causation; but I don't think their point was that we shouldn't care. It seemed like more of a methodological critique.