From a Despondent Aunt
Content Warning: This Letter contains Content Related to Suicide, Self-Harm
I am a 61-year-old woman and a business owner of 25 years. My 23-year-old “non-binary” niece just killed herself. That suicide will become another statistic cited by the Trans community to bolster the argument that Trans people take their own lives because they are disrespected and discriminated against. I call it “Pulling the Suicide Card.”
My niece is one of many girls and young women who destroy their lives and mutilate their bodies under the cover and via the mythology of “Gender Affirmation.” This theory goes by the logic that “if you believe something about yourself, it must be true.”
The true killer is gender “dysphoria” and the mental illness that drives it. I can attest to the latter because I can map my family tree back generations and generations who have suffered from bipolar disorder... and resulting suicides or early death via alcoholism. I myself almost became another genetic marker on the family tree. But luckily, suicide attempts in my 20's and 30's were not successful. However, years of therapy and ever-improving psychiatric medication have propelled me into a life worth living.
Now I must live with the fact that sharing my knowledge and experience with my niece could not stand up to the power of YouTube videos. I could not fight the social media that promised she would feel better if she changed her name and pronouns. Or, if she just had her breasts cut off. (At 19 years old, she had a double mastectomy that a top surgeon was all too happy to provide). Or, if she just disowned her mother, father, or aunts… she would be free of pain. Or, if she distanced herself from old friends and lived in a Trans community, she would feel loved.
Nothing was ever enough… until the pain was too much.
- NB
If you need help, please contact the Crisis Text Line, text HOME to 741741; the National Suicide & Crisis Lifeline, call 988; or the Veterans Crisis Line, dial 988 then press 1, or text 838255.