Transgender youth dies by suicide in N.H.

ive of our students, families and staff,” said Toland.

ultiple sources alleged that bullying and transphobia factored into the death of the teen, although the ashington lade has been unable to verify any of those claims.

A spokesperson for the Rainbow Youth Pro ect confirmed in a phone call onday that Nova Dunn, a student at Southside iddle School, died by suicide. The New Hampshire State Police while not commenting, citing an ongoing investigation, confirmed the incident and the resulting “hours-long traffic am at the location” ust east of the all of New Hampshire.

A friend of the family, Stacey Greenberg, wrote in the Gound e post to raise the funds to defray the cost of the funeral:

“Hello, this is Stacey a friend of elissa and om to one of Nova’s close friends. No one should have to outlive their child, but elissa has now experienced this twice. On ednesday afternoon, 14-year-old Nova left this earth and found the peace and acceptance he was searching for.”

The New Hampshire nion Leader reported that anchester School istrict Supt. Jenn illis sent an email to district families last ednesday night that said in part “ t is with deep sadness that we inform you that one of our students has died unexpectedly.”

Gillis wrote that: “This loss may raise many emotions, concerns and questions for our entire school community, especially our students.” anchester School istrict spokesperson Andrew Toland, in a press statement, noted that counselors from other anchester area schools and the state’s Disaster Behavior Health esponse Team spent ay at the school “directly impacted” by the death.

“Our focus in the coming days and weeks is to be support- n an interview on ated L T adio with ob atson this past week, Lance Preston, founder and executive director of the ainbow outh Pro ect SA, noted that the toxic legislative atmosphere had tripled calls for assistance to the RYP’s crisis counselors, as nearly states have banned trans youth gender-affirming therapy for minors, and have also passed laws the forbid discussion of LGBTQ issues, history and people in classrooms.

In the past few months there has been considerable attention focused on trans youth nationally, particularly around school policies regarding trans youth health care and gender identity. Last month, New Hampshire Public Radio reported that the New Hampshire Supreme Court heard arguments in a case brought by a anchester parent challenging school policies around trans and nonbinary students.

The parent says she was kept in the dark when her child began using a different name and identifying as a different gender at school — something the parent objected to, NHPR reported.

At issue is a district policy that says anchester school staff generally shouldn’t disclose when a student identifies as trans or gender nonconforming without that student’s permission.

Republican New Hampshire lawmakers are rallying behind legislation that would force schools to disclose a student’s gender identity to parents when asked. The state House of Representatives narrowly rejected one such proposal last month, but another remains on the table after passing the state Senate along party lines.

Preston also pointed out that more than a half dozen states enacting measures, like New Hampshire’s proposed disclosure of a youth’s gender to parents, in cases of non-affirming households specifically places those youth at risk for suicide or leaving, oft times ending up living homeless on the streets. At the beginning of this month, the nation’s leading suicide prevention organization for LGBTQ youth, the Trevor Project, released the results of its latest survey of queer young people ages to .

The survey of , youth nationwide, conducted last fall, underscores the negative mental health impact of anti-LGBTQ legislation and policies. Among the key findings

• 41 percent of LGBTQ young people seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year — and those who are trans, nonbinary and/or people of color reported higher rates than their peers.

• 56 percent who wanted mental health care in the past year were not able to get it.

• young peop e ho ha a ess to a rming homes, schools, community events and online spaces reported lower rates of attempting suicide compared to those who did not.

• Trans and nonbinary young people reported lower rates of attempting suicide when all of the people they live with respected their pronouns and/or they had access to a gender-neutral bathroom at school.

• LGBTQ young people who experienced victimization because of their orientation or identity — including being physically threatened or harmed, discriminated against or subjected to conversion therapy — reported more than twice the rate of attempting suicide in the past year compared to those who did not have any of these anti-LGBTQ experiences.

• Nearly 2 in 3 LGBTQ young people said that hearing about potential state or local laws banning people from discussing LGBTQ people at school — also known as “Don’t Say Trans or Gay” laws — negatively impacted their mental health.