ransgender youth dies by suicide in . .

-year-old transgender youth left his school, walked down use oad to the overpass over busy Interstate , climbed the chain-link fence installed by the ew ampshire Department of ransportation to prevent people falling off the older bridge and its low guard rails, and lept into eastbound traffic.

spokesperson for the ainbow outh ro ect confirmed in a phone call onday that ova Dunn, a student at Southside iddle School, died by suicide.

he ew ampshire State olice 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 ew ampshire.

friend of the family, Stacey reenberg, wrote in the o und e post to raise the funds to defray the cost of the funeral ello, this is Stacey a friend of elissa and om to one of ova s close friends. o one should have to outlive their child, but elissa has now e perienced this twice. n Wednesday afternoon, -year-old ova left this earth and found the peace and acceptance he was searching for. he ew ampshire nion eader reported that anchester School District Supt. enn illis sent an email to district families last Wednesday night that said in part It is with deep sadness that we inform you that one of our students has died une pectedly. illis wrote that his loss may raise many emotions, concerns and uestions for our entire school community, especially our students. anchester School District spokesperson ndrew oland, in a press statement, noted that counselors from other anchester area schools and the state s Disaster Behavior ealth esponse eam spent ay at the school directly impacted by the death. ur focus in the coming days and weeks is to be sup- portive of our students, families and staff, said oland. ultiple sources alleged that bullying and transphobia factored into the death of the teen, although the Washington Blade has been unable to verify any of those claims.

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. ast month, ew ampshire ublic adio reported that the ew ampshire Supreme Court heard arguments in a case brought by a anchester parent challenging school policies around trans and nonbinary students. he 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 ob ected to, reported. t 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. epublican ew ampshire lawmakers are rallying behind legislation that would force schools to disclose a student s gender identity to parents when asked. he state ouse of epresentatives narrowly re ected one such proposal last month, but another remains on the table after passing the state Senate along party lines. reston also pointed out that more than a half do en states enacting measures, like ew ampshire 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. t the beginning of this month, the nation s leading suicide prevention organi ation for B youth, the revor ro ect, released the results of its latest survey of ueer young people ages to . he survey of , youth nationwide, conducted last fall, underscores the negative mental health impact of anti- B legislation and policies. mong the key findings

In an interview on ated B adio with ob Watson this past week, ance reston, founder and e ecutive director of the ainbow outh ro ect S , noted that the to ic legislative atmosphere had tripled calls for assistance to the s crisis counselors, as nearly states have banned trans youth gender-affirming therapy for minors, and have also passed laws the forbid discussion of B issues, history and people in classrooms.

• 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.

• LGBTQ young people who had access to affrming 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.

BRODY LEVESQUE