Gender care, like hormone therapy, can halve the risk of suicide thoughts in newborn people. And simply having an adult in his life can reduce the risk of 40%. (Vladimir Vladimirov | Getty Images)
In a few years, West Virginia Trans -Kids has banned access to the necessary medical care, excluding them from participating in sports with their colleagues and will now force teachers to bring them to their families. And these are just the bills that have passed.
The proposed legislation contained invoices that would describe the existence of Trans and Non -national people as “obscene” who exist from the same to pass us Neighborhood as a school. In Arkansas, conservative legislators even tried to ban certain haircuts after sex. Female woman assigned at birth whether they identify like this or not? Your hairdresser could be drawn to court and lose everything he only gives for a tiny bob. The rhetoric of transthobia and anti-trans-trans-rhetoric float, and bigots whip people into the frenzy about gender-specific people.
What these people do not recognize is that they are committed by a well -financed, coordinated campaign so that they hate their fellow human beings. These tactics have consequences and can cost newborn people their lives. I can quote numbers all day: 82% of the trans youth have thought about taking life; Trans -military members complete by 20% more suicide than their Cisgenden colleagues. Gender care such as hormone therapy can halve the risk of suicide thoughts in newborn people. And simply having an adult in his life can reduce the risk of 40%.
While the numbers are amazing, I did not find that they are particularly effective Humanizing my community on people who don’t know us. But a good story that is true in contrast to all the fear of the other side? That can and can change the heart and mind.
That’s why I traveled through the country for over a year to write “American teenager”A groundbreaking non-fiction books that follow the life of eight trans- and non-binaries all over America. I hope that in the letter I hope to illustrate what should already be taken for granted: transcinders are only children, no other child.
The children who were brave enough to share their stories “American teenager “ earn so much more than your legislators gave them. Mykah, who lives with her mother on the outskirts of Charleston, watched in February 2023 from the balcony of the State Capitol building how her friends and parish members asked for a future in their own state. The requests were largely ignored: the immense majority of Republican legislators, many of which would ultimately vote for legislation against the anti-transs, rejected the opportunity to be present in order to hear the public’s certificate. They appealed to an empty legislator.
Although followers of laws that strip mykah’s right than existing, they claim that they protect children, but these guidelines do nothing to tackle the real problems of their family. At the time when the book was written, Mykah was about to not be completed in a sedate crisis on mental health. Her mother, Dawn, drowned: she could hardly afford to put food on the table, let alone the support of her child, who was so urgently needed.
Today Mykah is in a good place. You have a steady job and are on the way to a lighter morning without aid from your legislators. But many of their colleagues are not doing so well: some of the teenagers in “American teenager “ were forced to flee from their home states, even in the country, in the middle of a nationwide epidemic of legislation such as the invoices presented in West Virginia. Ruby, a self-described “church girl” of a pious religious family, had planned a move to California, but now starts in Europe, and she will be thousands of kilometers away from her family. Wyatt moved twice last year and is not sure where it is at home if it is not South Dakota.
Trans -teenagers were forced to become refugees in their own country who were treated like deviations and criminals because they dare to live their most true truth. In written form “American teenager “,” I hope that everyone who has been manipulated to discriminate against children do what legislators have worn out: they actually get to know. Through the opportunity to spend time with Mykah, Ruby and Wyatt to learn their stories and meet their loving families, the public can recognize the damage, caused fear and misinformation. We can undo the damage.
October will be for the one -year anniversary of the publication of “markAmerican teenager “,” And since his debut I have worked on bringing this book as many communities as possible. With only extremely modest financial support, I held more than 80 book events in 36 states without the District of Columbia. I hope to finally make it to all 50. I will arrive as long as it takes to ensure that these newborn voices are heard.
On Saturday, July 26th at 1 p.m., Mykah will take part in a reading and questions and answers in the South Charleston Public Library, my 83rd tour date so far. It will be the first time that I have seen it since the book was written, and I can hardly wait to see this extravagant, ambitious person who gets the best in the people around them. Mykah is a walking dream factory: constantly preventing her next steps towards fame as if the celebrity were simply inevitable. This optimism is contagious. They believe not only to think about their vision, but also to think about what could be possible for everyone if we could only regain our hope capacity.
I hope that one day West Virginia will be a better place for the mykahs in the world. I hope you have all the rooms in this country you need to thrive. All it takes to listen to you.
