The Blue View: NH needs to stand upand protect its LGBTQ+ youth

By Jenn Glynn

Originally published October 20, 2021 in Seacoast Online.

Standing in the middle of Portsmouth on Saturday, October 9th, teenagers and younger children filled the street. They were accompanied by parents, siblings, and friends. It was the Pride march organized by Seacoast Outright and Black Lives Matter Seacoast.

Rainbows adorned flags and clothing. People carried signs about rights and love. The children were laughing and having fun – because they were being recognized. These children were either members of the LGBTQIA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Intersex, Questioning and Asexual) community or attended as allies to support their friends and family members. They were large in number and were living their truth out loud. It was one of the most beautiful and moving things in which I have participated.

After the march, transgender speakers shared their coming out stories. A transgender teenager shared a poem she wrote. Young drag queens performed. One of the ideas repeated by every transgender and gender-nonconforming speaker was:

They knew who they were at a very young age.

Most children categorize their own gender by the time they are 2 or 3 years old. Because they have so much clarity of their gender even at such a young age, very young transgender and gender nonconforming kids will often push back if they are not treated as the gender with which they identify.

Looking around at all of the children, I was hit with the hard realization of what these LGBTQIA kids face every day. Some sober facts: earlier this year, the Trevor Project (thetrevorproject.org) released survey data showing that 42% of LGBTQIA children aged 13 to 24 years old contemplated suicide in 2020. That number increases to 52% for transgender youth.

Here in Hampton where I live, we have numerous high school students who openly identify as transgender. These are children in our community who are vulnerable to depression, anxiety, self-harm, and suicide. It is not because of who they are, but because of how society treats them.

The Trevor Project survey results show that transgender youth whose pronouns are respected by all the people they live with have attempted suicide at half the rate of transgender kids whose pronouns are not respected by family members. Transgender and nonbinary youth who were able to change their names and/or gender markers on legal documents reported lower attempted suicide rates than those who were unable to make these changes.

This data is backed up by local school guidance counselors who share that LGBTQIA students who have the support of their families are more well-adjusted. They struggle less with depression and anxiety than those children who lack support at home.

Data also shows that, even here on the Seacoast, LGBTQIA youth are at higher risk for homelessness. This makes them more vulnerable to sex trafficking.

Given all this information about the harmful effects – depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts and attempts, and homelessness – a caring person would think that New Hampshire would do as much as possible to protect vulnerable children.

Sadly, there are elected officials in New Hampshire who are working to pass legislation that will harm these children.

Last year, Republican NH state Rep. Dave Testerman of Franklin pushed forward a bill to change the definition of child abuse to include sexual reassignment. The bill did not pass. However, he apparently dislikes transgender children so much that he reintroduced the legislation this year. If this bill passes, then it will result in an increased number of children who are depressed, self-harming, and suicidal. How can anyone in good conscience endanger children? Unfortunately, there are many elected Republican legislators in Concord who agree with him.

Sexual reassignment is about treatment and therapy – not just surgery. Robbing a child of the healthcare they need to feel safe and affirmed is abuse. It not only affects the mental health of the children involved but also of the adults who are trying to help them.

To add insult to injury, there are also Republican elected officials in New Hampshire who openly mock members of the LGBTQIA community. Some even specifically target children who are gender-nonconforming and transgender.

This is the type of behavior that contributes to the depression, anxiety, fear, and hopelessness felt by many LGBTQIA children.

We should not tolerate this kind of cruelty which is – at a minimum – harmful to the mental and physical well-being of LGBTQIA children and can and has resulted in the death of some of these children.

I urge you to protect these kids. Please write or call your state representatives and tell them not to support the legislation Representative Testerman has proposed. Talk to your friends, family, and neighbors to help get the message out. Speak out loudly not only against this dangerous legislation, but the actions by too many of our elected “leaders” targeting our LGBTQIA family, friends and neighbors who are a part of our Seacoast N.H. community. Children need us to show them the support they deserve and if we as a community do not protect them, then who will?

Jenn Glynn is a is a resident of the town of Hampton and a member of the Hampton Democrats.