The Trevor Project, the world’s largest suicide prevention organization for LGBTQ young people, responded to the administration’s request of the Supreme Court to let it enforce its harmful transgender military ban.
“Attempting to implement a policy that excludes transgender people from service tells them that they are not worthy be a part of their nation, and the harmful public rhetoric around these policies have real world consequences. It’s important for transgender people to know that no proposed policy can change their value, whether they choose to serve in the military or not.
The Trevor Project will continue fighting for the safety of LGBTQ young people, and we will always be here for transgender youth in crisis to let them know they deserve respect, their lives have value, and that they are never alone.” -Amit Paley, CEO and Executive Director of The Trevor Project
Harmful public rhetoric like this affects transgender youth, a high-risk population for suicide who our crisis counselors hear from every day:
- The Trevor Project received more than double the amount of crisis contacts from transgender and gender non-conforming youth following the initial trans military ban tweet and Texas “bathroom bill” introduction.
- The number of transgender and gender non-conforming youth reaching out to Trevor’s crisis services nearly doubled in the 24 hours after The New York Times article reported on the administration’s proposed narrow and harmful definition of gender.
- In October 2018, The Trevor Project filed an amicus brief using organizational data and unique insights in its continued effort to fight the transgender military ban.
- In response to the last ban on transgender service members, The Trevor Project filed amicus briefs in nearly every case, and our amicus brief was cited as a pivotal factor in the previous court decision of the case, with three such citations in Doe v Trump alone.
