“We started getting increased call volume at about 10 p.m. on election night, and it hasn’t slowed down at all. In fact, it’s on the rise still.”
That’s Trans Hotline’s Gretta Martela, talking to Mother Jones about the recent spike in calls in the wake of Trump’s election.
“It fact,” she says. “It’s on the rise still.”
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Normally, the hotline answers roughly 100 calls a day. Now, that number is up to about 520.
100% of LGBT Americans are at risk because Mike Pence believes in conversion therapy and he'll have more control over Trump than Trump will.
— Stats America (@StatsAmerica_) November 9, 2016
Steve Mendelsohn, deputy executive director of The Trevor Project, told Mother Jones that “ninety-five percent” of the people phoning in are “worried about the election results.”
And they’re telling us that they’re feeling anxious and scared…
They talk about things that came up during the election campaign. So a fear that perhaps gay marriage will be reversed. Or that conversion therapy will be promoted. Or that their insurance might be taken away.”
“No question a lot of transgender students and their parents woke up Wednesday morning really scared,” says Sarah McBride, Human Rights Campaign’s national press secretary.
As DNA Info reports, this news is emblematic of a greater trend that saw fa large uptick in suicide prevention hotline calls all across the nation.
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For example, such calls have increased by 200 percent in Illinois, according to Patrick Magoon, president of Lurie Children’s Hospital.
“This is clearly a public health crisis,” he said during a press conference on Monday.
Talking to CNN, John Draper of the National Suicide Prevention Hotline said, “I can’t say I’ve seen anything like this… And it’s certainly not something I’ve ever seen in an election.”
Alistair Wiseman
This is unfortunate. It doesn’t say much about the mental stability of the transgender, which has been repeatedly questioned prior to the election.
1EqualityUSA
The cruelty displayed by this comment above will come back to Alistair. It’s a test, only a test. He wants us to hate. He uses his words to harm. What a pathetic creature. I have lived long enough to know that bad luck is nigh. A mind, capable of such contempt for others, such superiority, reveals a damaged soul. It begs the question, what in the world did his parents do to him? What did our community do to him? Just like Trump, he’ll create his hate stew and falter without so much as a wish on our part. It may be a wreck, a letter from his doctor, a lawsuit, a humiliating, devastating circumstance that sends him into a tailspin. Don’t wish it on him, just wait. It’s already set into motion by his mind. To transgender people driven to contemplating suicide, please wait for the whole picture to play out. Trump will go down like something out of Greek mythology. They all do.
Alistair Wiseman
@1EqualityUSA:
Regardless of a polarizing election season, transgender people face an alarmingly high risk of suicide. Reports of a specific group of people wanting to commit suicide (if true) because an election didn’t go their way is sad and pathetic.
However, one barometer of a society is how it takes care of the most vulnerable amongst them. Whether it be the elderly, the incarcerated, the unborn or parent-less and in this case, the mentally ill.
(Your hysterics, childish insults and self-indulgent blathering do nothing to address any of these issues.)
1EqualityUSA
Your perturbative response doesn’t discount the cruelty of your comment.
Alistair Wiseman
I’m sorry that truth, facts and reality do not coincide with your politically correct, safe space world. Hopefully, it will get better. 🙂
Daniel-Reader
Being elected gives no permission whatsoever to harm fellow citizens. To the contrary, it requires protecting everyone’s human rights to ensure the rule of law. Be brave LGBT and Allied people.
takingliberties
I wonder what Mariah Carey has to say about all of this.
Heywood Jablowme
@1EqualityUSA: This is what Alistair does in the rare, waking half-hour per day that he’s not posting here:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2016/11/10/white-supremacists-urge-trolling-clinton-supporters-suicide/93617792/
Then he comes back here and resumes his “Tsk, tsk, the anti-Trump losers threw eggs at a car someplace… EEK” routine.
ScaryRussianHeather
If calls increased, it’s because of celebrity and media outlets’ fear-mongering. Some media tried to claim ACTUAL SUICIDES increased in the Trans community and was instantly debunked.
ErikO
@ScaryRussianHeather: Very true.
kille310
For those ppl who that think this is the end of the world, just grow up and do something about.
Anyone (and i dont mean only trans), that thinks about suicide because their candidate lost an election needs some serious mental health treatment.