Texas Trans Youth and the Rise in Calls to Suicide Hotlines

This year has proven one of the hardest for trans youth across the country, as anti-trans legislation sweeps the United States at an alarming rate, specifically targeting trans kids who find community and solace through sports. This anti-trans legislation has appeared to hit trans youth in Texas the hardest, as The Trevor Project—the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention for LGBTQ young people—has received nearly 4,000 crisis calls from trans and nonbinary youth from Texas this year alone.

The nonprofit released a National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health for 2021, revealing that “42 percent of LGBTQ youth seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year, including more than half of transgender and nonbinary youth.”

As Brody Levesque of the Los Angeles Blade: Southern California’s LGBTQ News Source reported earlier this week, “Transgender and nonbinary youth in Texas have directly stated that they are feeling stressed, using self-harm, and considering suicide due to anti-LGBTQ laws being debated in their state.”

Amit Paley, CEO and executive director of the Trevor Project, spoke with the Los Angeles Blade, saying, “The Trevor Project’s crisis counselors have been hearing from transgender and nonbinary youth in Texas who are scared and worried about anti-trans laws being debated in their state—and some have even expressed suicidal thoughts. This is a crisis. We urge Texas lawmakers to consider the weight of their words and actions—and to reject HB 10/SB 3.”

Republican Texas Governor Abbott appears to have a dark obsession with transgender youth, as the state has pushed for more anti-trans legislation than any other in the country, totaling 41 different bills. One of which, SB 1646, would make supportive parents of trans children “abusers” by “consenting to or assisting in the administering or supplying of, a puberty suppression prescription drug or cross-sex hormone to a child.”

As Alex Bollinger of LGBTQ Nation writes, “puberty blockers are reversible and have been found to significantly reduce suicidal thoughts for trans people,” affirming what trans youth already know: these bills have nothing to do with “protecting” them, but rather, shaming, humiliating, and controlling them and their loved ones.

Landon Richie, a trans youth activist from Houston, TX, spoke to the Los Angeles Blade, saying, “As a transgender young person in Texas, this new data from the Trevor Project is not surprising, but it’s nonetheless harrowing and alarming to see this representation of the detrimental impact Texas Lege is having on our community—especially our kids. Lawmakers and proponents of bills like SB 3 and HB 10 should be alarmed by these statistics, too.”

If you or someone you love needs help, please reach out to The Trevor Project at 1-866-488-7386, whose hotline is 24/7. You can also call Trans Lifeline at 1-877-565-8860, a hotline created for trans people, by trans people.

Photo credit to ACLU Texas