#TransLivesMatter and the Alarming Rate of Transgender Suicides One cannot deny the increase in the rate of transgender deaths or suicides to be more precise and while not every person might not readily accept or feel comfortable with the fact that a person decides to change his or her gender, the discrimination and marginalization should not be so pronounced as to lead to the suicide of the transgender person. Activists around the world have used the various channels and techniques possible to kick against the discrimination, bully, and somewhat marginalisation of transgender persons that have largely been attributed to the increase in the rate of transgender suicides in recent years. One of such unfortunate cases is that if Ash Haffner that took her own life as a result of increased and continuous bullying from schoolmates and her peers especially after she decided to go public with her transgender plans. The teenage girl, who was just sixteen years old at the time of her death, has been very strong over the years but as there is a limit to what we all can withstand, she gave in to the bullying and took her own life. Her case is preceded by the death of Leelah Alcorn, also a high school teenager. The suicide of this transgender high school teenager from Ohio actually raised more international attention and activism with people around the world kicking against the factors that have led to the alarming rate of transgender suicide attempts especially in the United States. Study has it that one of every five persons in the United States has self-reported a case of attempted suicide with the statistics rising to as high as 10 or even 20 percent for bisexual and gay people. It follows that suicide attempts have been made by a whopping 41 percent of the transgender persons or people with gender types that have been tagged “non-conforming�. The statistics is even more disturbing among adults and this has led to the development of several ways of ensuring people do not result to taking their own lives as a result of pressure from the society. The internet and the social media in particular, have been very helpful in this struggle and just like on the case of the #Blacklivesmatter where the people took to the internet and social media protesting the unjustly killings of black people especially by the police and emphasizing the fact that even as blacks, the lives of these people is important, the path of online activism was also followed in this case with the use of the #Translivesmatter. Social sites like Nterestin.com have taken this to the next level. Nterestin allows this activist to come together in a LIVE video group chat so that they can discuss these powerful social movements together.
On the site, people have been able to take their hashtag and turn it into a town hall meeting voicing their opinions with strangers and friends and making sure that they are being heard. Besides the online mechanism used, it is also important for families of transgender persons especially their parents to carefully listen to their kids as they try to make the transition and ensure to boost their self-confidence and esteem to prevent giving in to unnecessary societal pressure. The educational institutes should also entrench some policies that ensure transgender students are not discriminated against and are able to learn and go on with their lives just like any other student.