The impetus for drawing this week's cartoon was the suicide of Henry Berg-Brousseau, a young trans man who had testified courageously before the Kentucky state legislature while still a teenager as it was poised to pass a mean-spirited, punitive, anti-transgender bill. (Which, having a Republican majority, they passed anyway.)
His testimony was featured on John Oliver's "Last Week Tonight"; his death has received international attention.
I became aware of him through his uncle David Brousseau, a fellow cartoonist for Q Syndicate and my editor for a time. I hadn't realized that Henry's mother, Karen Berg, is a Kentucky State Senator.
I will not presume to guess what made Henry decide life wasn't worth living. He had a promising future, having been hired as deputy press secretary for Human Rights Campaign. I know nothing of his personal life; a press release from his mother noted that he had "long struggled with mental illness, not because he was trans but born from his difficulty finding acceptance."
To paraphrase Tolstoy, every happy person is alike; every unhappy person is unhappy in their own way.
So this cartoon is not specifically about Henry Berg-Brousseau. It fails to encompass all the difficulties that transgender persons face. I don't have the expertise giving me the right to recommend any particular therapy or medication.
But I hope that somehow, someone somewhere sees this in time to decide to stick it out one more day. To reach out to people who do know what to say, and more importantly, are there to listen.
If you or someone you know is in emotional distress or suicidal crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
_________________________
P.S.: To find this cartoon in one piece, visit one of my client publications, such as Q Salt Lake.
No comments:
Post a Comment