On October 31st five years ago, I watched my best friend die. I, a child, watched as his lifeless body hung amongst the tree branches, and my last remaining childlike wonder lay with the leaves. It was hatred and public policy that led to his death.
On October 26th five years ago, my best friend was assaulted for getting off his school bus on his way home. He was left bloody, bruised, and scarred. He barely spoke the last days of his life, and no one did anything. His doctors were cold and distant; he was denied by all the therapy agencies in his area; his school never acknowledged his passing. No one helped this 12 year old boy, on his fraying tightrope above death’s domain, because to them, he was not born a boy. To them, he was an amalgamation of misunderstanding that leads to fear, difference that leads to change, and most prevalent, the hatred that leads to violence.
It took me a year to open up about what I saw, and four more to forgive myself. I lost my ability to be a kid, just as he lost his ability to be alive. Five years passed. The men who hurt him still go free, his death still goes unacknowledged, and all because my best friend wasn’t like the majority.
Our fates are not one I would push upon anyone. Our fates should’ve been blocked by a shield with layers upon layers of cold steel plating. It should lay in front of every child, every single child. Our fates, coddled by death, are determined by seventy-seven million, two hundred eighty-four thousand, one hundred and eighteen people. Seventy-seven million human beings in the self-proclaimed country of freedom decided to take a stand against unity, using their sacred vote to pin their support for a man standing against human rights, and because of it, the bodies of children are dropping like flies.
Between 2018 and 2022, 48 anti-transgender laws were enacted on a state level. According to a report done by researchers at the Trevor Project, this raised the rate of suicide attempts performed by trans youth by 79%. Let that swim in your head for a while. As of writing this, it has been only 25 days since Donald John Trump was brought back as president of our country; already there have been countless laws and executive orders passed against the rights of American citizens. Instead of making efforts to combat the wage gap, fix the hunger epidemic, or fight poverty, he has instead chosen to battle far more pressing issues; the name of the Gulf of Mexico comes to mind. Or what about through his disdain for queer people, bringing about his demands to remove the terms gender, LGBT, pregnant people, and many more from the ‘US Centers for Disease Control’ site. For years we labored for basic rights that we still never got to see to completion, and now they are being taken away before our very eyes. It’s the kind of censorship, the kind of thievery of healthcare, everything that caused my best friend and so many other children around the states that were never united to take their own lives.
We are killing kids.
I cannot speak on the current state of America without bringing up the deportations. Thousands of migrants taken into custody, guilt not required, with the goal of deportation. According to homeland security’s article: Promises Made, Promises Kept: President Trump is Already Securing Our Border and Deporting Criminal Aliens… There is no quote, just let that title resonate with you. Let it be known that the government’s very own security website uses such vile language to cheat you out of your humanity. Fish into your mind and bring back the trans suicide rates of 2022. These are rates that still ravage my community, our friends, family, lovers, because of the government’s filthy actions. It’s getting worse. It is all getting worse. In four years, it won’t just be the transgender youth that we have to report on. Every single minority in our country is being asked the same question we were all those years ago. Can you live in a world like this?
I propose a question of my own. Who alone can change the world? We need to unite, not just as a country, but as a species. I can fight, You can fight, everyone can fight their battles, but if we do not stand up hand in hand the world will not see us for who we are: humans. We don’t have time for homophobia, we don’t have time for racism, for colorism, for ableism, we don’t have time to fight each other. We have to push back. Not just for us, but for all the kids whose ropes are about to break. We need to be the shield that rises to protect those we love, and we need to be the sword that cleaves our way to change, or else we won’t have a home to protect.
“Trump’s Banned Words and Disastrous Health Policies.” Health and Human Rights Journal, hhrjournal.org, www.hhrjournal.org/2025/02/04/trumps-banned-words-and-disastrous-health-policies/. Accessed 19 Feb. 2025.
Martinez, Ricardo. “Making Sense of the Trump Administration’s Anti-LGBTQ+ Executive Orders.” GLAD Law, glad.org, 10 Feb. 2025, www.glad.org/making-sense-of-the-trump-administrations-anti-lgbtq-executive-orders/.
News, Trevor. “Anti-Transgender Laws Cause up to 72% Increase in Suicide Attempts among Transgender and Nonbinary Youth, Study Shows.” The Trevor Project, 11 Feb. 2025, www.thetrevorproject.org/blog/anti-transgender-laws-cause-up-to-72-increase-in-suicide-attempts-among-transgender-and-nonbinary-youth-study-shows/.
“President Trump Is Already Securing Our Border and Deporting Criminal Aliens: Homeland Security.” U.S. Department of Homeland Security, www.dhs.gov/news/2025/01/26/president-trump-already-securing-our-border-and-deporting-criminal-aliens. Accessed 19 Feb. 2025.
