This week is Trans Awareness Week — a week to celebrate our transgender community and raise awareness of the issues facing the community.
Here’s what trans adults say: being trans is beautiful. Life’s problems don’t come from being trans — they come from barriers to living openly and authentically.
Politicians have been particularly targeting trans kids, limiting their rights to participate fully in public life by limiting their acccess to health care, prohibiting participation in school sports, and censoring content related to LGBTQ people in schools.
This is the message a few adult transgender Hoosiers want to send to trans youth in Indiana:
"Trans kids, you have a right to be yourself in any room you walk into."
-Emily (she/her), Terre Haute
"The people who attack you do not define you. The people who ridicule do not know the real you. They do not know your journey, where you've been, the hearts you touch, the memories you make or the tears you've shed. Remember that someone knows you, someone loves you, you're valid, loved, and you are not alone."
-Noah (he/him), Brownsburg
"I and others have been where you are. We will ease your suffering when we can. But it is important that you and people like you continue to exist."
-Lara (she/her), Terre Haute
"My message to trans youth is that you are valid and you deserve the right to exist and take up space."
-Trevor (he/him), Fishers
"I want trans youth to know they are loved and have an important place in this world. There are communities that will cherish and celebrate you for who you are."
-Trillium (they/he), Lafayette
"You have a community, a family, who values and loves you as you authentically are."
-Melanie (she/her/hers), Bloomington
