On February 11th, 2023 a 16 year old girl named Brianna Ghey was murdered by two 15 year olds in Warrington, England. The believed reason behind her murder is simple, hate. Brianna was a transgender woman, and had been bullied and harassed in the past for this. This is just one story of many, many transgender people around the world who have been harassed, hurt, or even murdered because of their identity.
As a trans person, specifically a trans person considered to be a youth, it is disheartening to see these laws put in place. As of April 10th, 2023 at least 110 laws have been put in place to ban transgender people from gender affirming care. Most of these laws have been directed at transgender youth, preventing them from things such as puberty blockers. Puberty blockers are one of the few things that do not permanently change a person’s body, yet still help the people on them from experiencing gender dysphoria.
According to the Mayo Clinic, puberty blockers “Improve mental well-being, reduce depression and anxiety, improve social interactions and integration with other kids, eliminate the need for future surgeries, and reduce thoughts or actions related to self-harm.” There is also the benefit that getting puberty blockers are completely reversible. Puberty blockers, one of the only forms of gender affirming care for minors that was legal in most states, helps improve mental health of trans youth and is completely reversible if need be.
When it comes to mental health, an overwhelming amount of trans people show high to very high amounts of psychological stress. According to a study from the American Journal of Mental Health, 46.0% of the transgender people studied reported high or very high psychological stress. Of this study, youth was affected most for a few reasons. The reason that I believe to be the most relevant is a “greater number of victimization experiences.”
What this means is that these people, actual children, are being bullied and harassed by their peers because of their gender identity. If these children had been cisgender, a word meaning someone who identifies as their birth assigned gender, the news outlets would be blowing up about an “epidemic of bullying amongst the youth.”
Despite the overwhelming amount of evidence to say that what these people are doing is harming children and putting them at risk, they still continue to do it. They still continue to make laws to ban the thing that makes us ourselves. They still continue to make hateful news stories about the transgender “craze” harming our children. They continue to encourage their children to be the same as them. They continue to peddle hate towards a community that has caused no harm to them.
The laws being put into place to make gender affirming healthcare illegal are spreading extreme misinformation and causing harm to a harmless community. They are actively harming transgender people, and specifically youth, in the states they are taking a hold in.
While this may seem depressing, there are things everyone can do to help trans and the LGBTQ+ community. There are multiple charities, such as The Trevor Project that you can donate to to help LGBTQ+ youth get easier, more specialized access to mental health services. If you do not have the resources to be giving, I highly suggest sending an email or letter to government officials. Whether it is the governor or senator in your state, the mayor of your town, or anyone else you can think of, it is important. We can help stop these laws and policies being put into place, one message at a time.
