LGBT News Transgender teen in Pensylvannia commits suicide

Oh my gosh. :O I'm so saddened by this. I hope that we can spread awareness in order for others not to do the same. . My condolences goes out to his family and friends who knew him best. :/ Such a sad story...

 

I heard about this in a group I'm apart of. I can't believe another young person has taken their life. I've heard his family misgenders him in the article, so I'll avoid it.

 

From this article, it seemed that there were a lot of people that support him at school:
Apparent Bucks suicide points up transgender stresses - Philly.com

The parents in the OP article seem accepting too, just that they were a bit confused and were in the process of adapting to the change.

Seems like the most powerful driving force toward this suicide was that he has an extremely serious case of dysphoria, and HRT + Top Surgery was just a bit too far away to reach at that point. Likely the decision was made in one of the worst episode of dysphoria. It is a horrible thing. It show us how dysphoria is an actual life or death situation for transpeople.

I know personally this feeling of despair...I think I am currently stable, but I still consciously avoid dangerous things like knives, razor, and usually avoid traffic if possible (always have someone taking me if I am going somewhere far) because I afraid if at one point I break, I might actually hurt myself before I realize what I was doing.

But I will do what I can to live on, because I hope to prove that no matter how horrible it is, you can survive through dysphoria, and you can make it to the end, to the point you can live as yourself. I hope to be an example, no matter how small, that shows there could be another way for people like me and Riley, that they don't have to end their lives like this. I hope, with all my heart, that after all the struggle we have been through, there is still a speckle of light at the end.

I will carry on with Riley's memory, and I won't die just yet.

 

Okay, that was just very heartbreaking.

depression is a very hard thing to defend. It's like cancer. Very easy to kill.

Poor boy...

I hope his soul can rest in peace :'(

 

This is hitting me harder than it should.

Whether it was the fact that his fucking parents still didn't acknowledge their fucking son even after his fucking SUICIDE or that he killed himself in the first place or both, I don't fucking know, and for some reason, I'm fucking crying right now and I just don't know fucking why.

And I know he's not the only one, but... I don't know, this made me realize how fucking silent the T is... NO ONE knows about it, EVERYONE ignores it, WE HAVE TO FUCKING SPEAK UP.

I'm not going to stay quiet anymore. This has gotten out of hand - A LONG time ago.

edit: sorry to generalize. i know the trans* community has come a long way.

 

More of us need to come out.

Make our presence known. This will provide solidarity and courage to those who still are in the closet. I know how hard it is to be trans... my heart goes out to this young man.

 

It's disgusting that his parents don't even accept him as a boy after his death like god I don't acknowledge that they're his parents . Their stigma caused him to kill himself . Rest in peace Riley.

 

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This is horrible. I can't imagine how much pain was being felt.

 

Poor boy. Rest in peace, Riley... ;(

 

:tears: I need to finally bite the bullet and talk to my friends. :icon_sad: I can't even think of what else to say right now.

 

How the hell can you refer to your transgender son as a female if they just fucking killed themselves because they didn't want to be a female?!

Seriously, he was never your 'daughter' you haven't had a daughter for 17 years because he's always been a boy, and that is just really disrespectful.

Rip Riley xXx

 

Poor guy at least he suffers no more, but why do people involve strangers in their suicide . My thoughts go out to the train driver, who in most suicide cases get traumatised. May he or she recover soon.

 

Unfortunately, as much as his parents may be mourning his death now, they probably didn't understand him at all.

I don't blame them though - I've only understood what transgender dysphoria is about in the last few months.

 

Light a candle for Riley; and start a fund of some kind that can provide free or easily accessible counselling for lgbt youth, so that more kids don't end up taking their lives. In my country there are services like this even for those on very low incomes, but I'm not sure about the United States...? Maybe volunteers could be given proper training, some kind of drop-in centre could be established...because I think that suffering in silence is the worst thing to do with depression. One has to talk about it, and so more services ought to be put in place, specifically for lgbt youth.

 

This is awful!

I hate hearing about stuff like this happening. The best way that we can honor his memory and the memory of everyone else is to carry on fighting for the world we all dream of where we are not only tolerated in the world but accepted universally.

We will get there eventually.

 

:icon_sad: This is depressing...

 

His parents probably aren't truly aware about the importance of pronouns. They might be kicking themselves later. Nonetheless, it seems they otherwise cared about their son.

I agree with RAdam that the train driver is an innocent victim that now feels guilty. Even if they know somebody is on the line, trains take ages to stop and it is usually too late. Possible PTSD. Maybe they'll quit work and have to find new employment. Plus this type of suicid can leave a mangled mess. Be as trained as you want for these situations, it still isn't pretty! Also, I feel as if I'm violating something by reading a birth name. This is all tragic in many ways.

Depression is a bastard. I've seen what it does to people. There's more to it than feeling down. Depression changes how people see the world and themselves. A year might feel as if it never ends because every day is a fight. It can be exhausting for friends and family to deal with a depressed person. I'm pretty sure that's why many depressed people put on a brave front. He wasn't thinking clearly when he killed himself and maybe he made what he thought was the best decision at a difficult time.

We need to give people tools to cope with struggles. It also helps everyone around them. For example, plenty people would find it empowering to learn cognitive behavioural therapy. Yes, he ultimately took his own life, but shame likely contributed to this outcome. Unfortunately, similar scenarios are going to play out again. Hopefully we can at least reduce the frequency of such incidents.