Trans 101: Part 8
Why Accurate Information and Support is So Crucial (CW: suicide):
(Links to Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7)
It’s so tempting for the 97-99% of us who are cisgender to talk about trans and non-binary realities as though they are “issues” to debate, as if we get to decide the legitimacy and validity of someone else’s lived experience.
With all the kindness in the world, let me say that we create an incredible amount of damage when we take this superior stance where we assume we know what is best for trans/non-binary people (adults and children alike). We don’t. It’s harmful, dangerous, and unethical for us to reduce someone’s humanity to an argument or an issue. As you’ll be able to see in the statistics below, peoples’ very lives are at risk.
I’m sure many of you have read or heard of the statistics regarding LGBTQ young people, and how dramatically their well-being is affected by having social support and acceptance from adults and peers, but let me just highlight a few (sources of these stats are in the hyperlinks and will also be at the end of post #11):
Using a transgender youth’s chosen name at work, at school, with friends and at home reduces depression symptoms by 71%, reduces thoughts of suicide by 34%, and reduces suicide attempts by 65%
Transgender and nonbinary youth who reported having pronouns respected by all or most people in their lives attempted suicide at half the rate of those who did not have their pronouns respected
Having at least one accepting adult can reduce the risk of a suicide attempt among LGBTQ young people by 40 percent
LGBTQ youth who felt high social support from their family reported attempting suicide at less than half the rate of those who felt low or moderate social support
LGBTQ youth who live in a community that is accepting of LGBTQ people reported much lower rates of attempting suicide than those who do not
First and foremost, parental support is vitally important for the well-being of trans and non-binary kids, and providing unconditional, loving acceptance of their child has a profound positive impact on a child’s mental and emotional health.
(images above from @mattxiv on Instagram)
Many trans and non-binary kids, however, do not have parents who will support them in this way, so the statistics mentioned above have implications for all of us: as family, friends, educators, and community members.
Our actions and the community environment we create is literally a matter of life and death for LGBTQ youth.
See you in the next post where we’ll look at the role of Educators (school boards, admin., teachers, support staff, etc.) in supporting trans & non-binary students.
~ K.