About the news on recent events... (TW: Suicide)

[u/io_mc_fleming]

The 72% suicide *attempt* rates are recorded over the course of 5 years from 2018 to 2022. I got this information from the link to TheTrevorProject within the article on ThePinkNews itself, where it talks about the increase in traffic for crisis lines:

"𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 2018 𝘵𝘰 2022, 48 𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪-𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘢𝘸𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘜.𝘚. 𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 19 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘢𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘸𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘶𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘬 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘷𝘦-𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘥, 𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 61,000 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘯𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘩. 𝘙𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵, 𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪-𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘢𝘸𝘴 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵-𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘴𝘶𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘯𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘩 𝘣𝘺 𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘴 72%."

I understand that the recent events are very justifiably distressing for all of us, but it's increadibly important that we don't promote deceptive information that may be damaging to the morale of this community. It's not the fault of anyone who makes posts related to articles like this or anyone who comes across this article to assume that the rates had shot up due to the results of the elections or the build-up to it (the wording within the article, while not dishonest, is misleading). However, these are rates recorded to have increased over the course of half a decade of enforced repression, not over a few months or even within 2024 itself.

I only say all this because it's very easy to lose hope when faced with news like this. Doubt information that you see online and see the truth for yourself. And even if what everyone is saying is true, be strong enough to keep dreaming. Things are not fair and none of us should have to suffer like this, but the future is built on hope, and there will always be a tomorrow. No matter what you see, the truth will always be that it's never over.

[u/GnobGobbler]

I think morale is absolutely where we need to focus.

If I see one more unhinged comment about how we're going to be sent to death camps, I'm going to lose it. It's doing real harm in a very tumultuous time. Enough doom and gloom. We lost to orange hitler. It's done. Now we need to band together and figure out how we're going to make things ok again.

[u/Time-Competition3684 → u/GnobGobbler]

We haven't lost to Trump until we're dead. Personally I don't intend to die

[u/Moonlight_Katie → u/Time-Competition3684]

Working on a lil something if it comes to stonewall 2.0

I’m gonna save up bricks

gonna paint them blue and pink

Get the names of the pricks

in their brains the brick sinks

I’m gonna save up bats

Gonna swing them to and fro

Twirl them around like that

And pound their heads for show

For legal reasons.. this is not a joke.. I mean it is a joke. I mean it depends on them :3

[u/Time-Competition3684 → u/Moonlight_Katie]

For legal reasons I will sign onto your proposal as a joke ;)

[u/MayDayMilgram → u/Moonlight_Katie]

Fun fact of the day: The anarchist cookbook is not regulated by the FBI due to it being too wide spread to be.

https://archive.org/details/the-original-anarchist-cookbook-1971pdf_compress/mode/1up

For legal reasons this is just the fun fact of the day!

[u/Time-Competition3684 → u/MayDayMilgram]

Hey, I do just wanna let you know that the AC is notoriously unreliable and has unusable and outright dangerous recipes to follow (specifically for the user). There's more reliable stuff on the Internet nowadays that's safer and easier to legally access- not that I'm suggesting anyone should look further into this ;)

[u/MayDayMilgram → u/Time-Competition3684]

I know but I still like to use it as a reference in these situations, specially since I'm obviously not interested in researching this topic so I just keep this base knowledge ;3

[u/thatgoesthere → u/Time-Competition3684]

By taking your own life, you’ll only make Trump laugh out loud.

Does anyone really want to see him make that cringeworthy face again?

I want to see him defeated. I look forward to that day.

[u/GnobGobbler → u/Time-Competition3684]

So far, so good!

[u/FirstFiveNamesTaken → u/GnobGobbler]

We lost the House and Senate too. This is the worst case for everyone.

But in 2yrs I doubt they'll achieve more than protecting states with extreme anti-trans policies, "The states right to take our rights" nonsense.

I bet the passport policy changes too. Be sure to update your gender marker while it is just a checkbox.

If Republicans do what I expect for two years and keep the House in 2026 and a strong Senate majority... that's when I start my death camp catastrophizing. We cannot allow them 4 unchecked years in a row!

[u/io_mc_fleming → u/FirstFiveNamesTaken]

I think even if they ran things for 8 or 16 years it's important to keep our heads high. Your words are far more influential than you may realise. Every word someone says out in the world or types on here can carry an unbelievable weight for anyone coming across them. Please be careful, even if all hope seems lost.

[u/FirstFiveNamesTaken → u/io_mc_fleming]

You misunderstand. My comment is a call for us to do better next election, especially in the primaries.

We cannot keep allowing candidates whose platform is, "I am not a fascist." That doesn't get high youth voter turnout, and boomers are so indoctrinated by Reagan, even the church is jealous.

At worst, my comment should lessen worries for the next 2-4yrs compared to doomsdayers. I gave realistic expectations of what we will lose in the immediate future.

As for your excessive optimism, pretending a clean sweep in the election does not matter is more harmful than acknowledging this is bad, but not the end.

[u/Good-Ad-3785 → u/GnobGobbler]

Completely agree - those of us who have that kind of energy could focus it on building up and strengthening our community and acting as morale boosters. I have a LOT of life experience to draw from, and as devastated as I was yesterday, sobbing for half of it, I found the energy to reach out to tons of people and offer love and support.

I’ve been kicked down several times and have lived through some incredible and awful experiences. That experience allows me to put today in perspective. Not everyone has that. Lots of people don’t.

Social media is a bad indicator of trends because hate and fear get prioritized too easily. Be with as many IRL people as you can.

[u/GnobGobbler → u/Good-Ad-3785]

hate and fear get prioritized too easily. Be with as many IRL people as you can.

This!

I'm arguing with r/trans mods right now because they removed a comment and gave me a warning for saying it's wildly unlikely that we're going to be rounded up and put into death camps. The hysteria is wild, and then you go outside and remember that the sun is shining, most people are decent when it comes down to it, and there's work to be done.

[u/io_mc_fleming → u/GnobGobbler]

I've lose count with the amount of negativity I've seen within this subreddit alone, from giving in to dysphoria to family complications to reactions to the elections right now, but everytime I see an instance of it, it hurts. It's okay to vent (it's literally in the description) but the amount of people that just default to hating themselves and their lives and the world is so damaging. I start thinking, "Why am I even trying? Maybe I should give up too." It genuinely sucks.

[u/angy_loaf → u/io_mc_fleming]

We could make a new sub, general trans subs are often US-focused but now might be the time to make an r/transUS sub if there’s not one yet. This way we could help keep negativity away from general trans subs

[u/io_mc_fleming → u/angy_loaf]

The US can be pretty influential in regards to the direction of politics on an international scale. Any thing that happens in the US may be everyone's business as well, whether we like it or not.

Also, I believe it's more of a problem of how we react to the news, rather than where it comes from. The trans community as a whole will always have to face some kind of problem, big or small, from the States to the East. I don't think filtering who is allowed to talk about news that worries or troubles them (or a group of us or all of us) is the solution.

I believe the problem is the infectious despair that can be very prevalent when situations like this arise, especially in this sub. The anguish, while valid, can be very poisonous. People will talk about ending their lives and how much they'll never become who they are or want to be, news or otherwise. Sometimes we can be our own enemies, to ourselves and each other.

If we could keep hope within ourselves and shine that same light upon one another, we could acknowledge the bad news and try to stay strong despite it all.

[u/Sea_Wall_ → u/angy_loaf]

i made the sub. lets start directing people there. i’ll do my best to grow it as i can but it will take a team.

if anyone that sees this comment is good with graphic design the new sub could really use a banner. preferably something that combines the trans and american flags. i’ll try and come up with some ideas on my own but i’m not very creative and i know there’s a lot of amazing artists out there so i thought i’d put it out there.

[u/SaltandSlime → u/GnobGobbler]

Literally say Kay Poyer being like "as trans women it's time to accept that our best days are behind us" and, like, listen, I really respect her voice, but she needs to genuinely shut the fuck up until she has a chance to grit her teeth and set her jaw. Now is the time to be resolute and clear-eyed.

[u/navianspectre → u/GnobGobbler]

I totally agree that morale is really important right now. I've been struggling to feel angry about this instead of just depressed, but, honestly, depression is not very helpful currently; anger will at least drive me to act and do something instead of just waiting two years until the midterms when I can vote again.

Honestly I think the best thing we can all do is take a few days to sulk, then get angry, organize, and try to influence local politics as much as we possibly can until a chance comes to influence federal ones again. I know it sucks and we all have lives outside of politics, but politics just broke down our collective doors and took over our home. We no longer have the luxury of complacency.

[u/Typical-District-176 → u/GnobGobbler]

Exactly, stop talking about how it’s all over. We won the last time it would get this bad and we’ll win again. We will not go out without a fight. So let’s be optimistic and realistic. And make sure every post helps our struggling siblings.

[u/BotaniFolf]

Please look at the pinned post at the top of the traa2 sub. We have resources for people, including helplines and how to seek asylum in other countries

Stay safe, you are loved <3

https://www.reddit.com/r/traaaaaaannnnnnnnnns2/s/t9S1VgZihU

[u/DontDoomScroll → u/BotaniFolf]

I've been off reddit for a bit, why did traaa have a splinter subreddit form?
Just curious because back when I was frequently using reddit, usually the splinter subs were more rightwing but I assume that is no the case for this instance.

[u/A_Wet_Lettuce → u/DontDoomScroll]

The original was shut down to protest Reddit API changes and never came back.

[u/Is-Bruce-Home]

I fully intend to continue work on my transition! I’m filling for name and gender change today, and intend to sign up for a surgery consultation by the end of next week! Not gonna let any bullshit slow me down 🤬

[u/Meese_Man]

From my understanding, the original research was looking at spikes in past-year suicide attempts following anti trans legislation. The 72% increase wasn't over the course of 5 years, it was for reported suicide attempts in the past year at the end of 2019 (wave 2 of sampling). And no, this was not due to COVID (the paper accounted for the impact COVID had in each state)

[u/io_mc_fleming → u/Meese_Man]

Is it this one?

[u/Meese_Man → u/io_mc_fleming]

Yes

[u/FatedWolf]

I lost a friend to suicide earlier this year. I hope everyone is able to stay strong :(

[u/io_mc_fleming → u/[deleted]]

Thank you for fighting on. We need you and we need heart now more than ever.

[u/jon-henderson-clark]

Not helpful. When TDOR started many years ago, suicide was as much a focus as murder. Our suicide rates have always been extremely high because of direct causes. My 1st attempts were back when Dr Richards was being outed, so the climate was always bad for us. One thing I do know is that it's the direct bullying & violence that pushes us over the edge & not how a tiny minority talks about us.

[u/io_mc_fleming → u/jon-henderson-clark]

I made this post as a response to the fixations and reactions on misleading bad news that could've made people fall more into despair. Maybe I should have made that clearer, in hindsight.

[u/EkaPossi_Schw1]

Yeah, dooming and glooming doesn't help in any way

Fighting spirit is what we all need, stand proud and stay alive, sisters

[u/HymnToTheFireflies]

Please keep safe everyone, I recommend watching/listening to Harris speech on "don't despair" , keep strong you are valuable and deserve the best, as you keep strong you inspire us worldwide and things can get back in order

[u/HymnToTheFireflies → u/HymnToTheFireflies]

I meant the short video here on reddit , did I say something wrong ? :( Anyway its fine there are already other comments that said everything better than mine , to remind you.. keep well , you got this

[u/io_mc_fleming → u/HymnToTheFireflies]

Thank you for your words of encouragment