Andrea SannaDonald Trump’s victory in the White House has put the entire LGBTQIA community on red alert.
Dr Amanda Calhoun – a child psychiatrist at Yale University – spoke to MSNBC host Joe Reid and explained that a very tense holiday season is inevitable for many LGBTQIA people.
The aggressive and fierce anti-LGBTQIA policy of the next President of the United States of America, Donald Trump, has left queer people – especially trans people – very terrified for their future. Many say that voting for Donald Trump was an act of violence against the marginalised communities he rails against, and for many it was violence perpetrated by their own family members who voted for the tycoon in the secrecy of the ballot box.
Joe Reid asked Calhoun what women, LGBTQIA people and other minority groups should be thinking about as the holidays approach: “Do you recommend, just psychologically, being with them?“
Dr Amanda Calhoun’s answer was clear: “There’s a push, I think it’s just a social norm, that if someone is your family, they’re entitled to your time. And I think the answer to that is absolutely no. If you’re in a situation where you have family members, close friends who you know have voted in a way that’s against you, against your livelihood, it’s perfectly fine to not be around those people and to tell them why, to say ‘I have a problem with the way you voted because it was against my livelihood and I’m not going to be with you at this party, I need some space for myself.”
A message to both adults and parents of vulnerable children: “I don’t think you should force children, I don’t think you should force adults to be around people just because they’re your family.”
Bottom line: “It could be vital to your mental health.”
Before Donald Trump won his second term in the White House, LGBTQIA people were suffering under anti-LGBTQIA laws in several states.
A study – published in September – showed that anti-transgender laws have a direct causal relationship with suicide attempts among young people, with a 72% increase in suicide attempts after these laws were passed.
And after Tycoon’s victory, calls, messages and chats to The Trevor Project (a suicide prevention organisation for LGBTQIA youth) increased by almost 700%. A very worrying increase.
