It was the summer of pride when Kyler Prescott took his own life. It as the month of May and a historic feat for equality was reached with the legalisation of same sex marriage throughout the US, but in San Diego it was a month that was stained with tears for one family. The Prescott family had been accepting and supportive of their son’s decision to transition from a girl to a boy, but the family’s love was not enough to stop the prejudice and judgement of the outside world. At only 14 years old, Kyler took his own life, a victim of a society’s blind hatred.
“I feel like I did everything possible to embrace his gender identity ... but my child committed suicide anyway, and I’ve really struggled with the unfairness of that” Kyler’s mother admitted to the media following the tragic event. The idea that even in a country that is making leaps and bounds in terms of LGBT rights a child can be driven to suicide is horrifying, but it shows a lot about the dark nature of progress.

While gay rights has strived ahead, transgender issues have been left comparatively in the dust. The suicide rate for Trans teens is shockingly high, with over 50% of all transgender youths making a suicide attempt by age 20, and many times these attempts will manifest themselves as yet another dead child. I feel almost desensitised to this blend of tragedy, as it seems like the list of lost childhoods, the list of deceased transgender children, grows longer each day. From the tragic passing of Leelah Alcorn last year, who’s hateful family pushed her to take her own life, to this recent event, it is easy to feel like the voices of these children has been drowned out by ignorance.
In recent years however there has been progress. Caitlyn Jenner’s high profile coming out inspired as many people as it outraged, and posed an important question to the public: ‘Will these people be accepted?’ Unfortunately for many children, the answer was no. Young, innocent children, who knew that there gender did not fit their body, are still shamed and ridiculed. They are made out to be deviants, freaks, mentally ill, and at no point does anyone stop and consider the fact that they are first and foremost human. Amongst the insults the humanity of these youths is lost until what only remains is a hollow caricature, and forgotten in the darkness the body count of hatred grows.
For every wedding ring there are a hundred tears. For every national victory there is a thousand personal losses. But there is still hope. The walls of ignorance are slowly being broken down, and one day the question of a Trans youths humanity will cease to be divisive. But until that day, until the country says together that it will not let another child be lost to suicide, it will be an important fight.

So the next time you overhear a snide joke at the expense of a Transgender child, man or woman, do not let it go by unchallenged. There is no good deed too small, no act of support too tiny that it does not help shape the attitude of your community and society. And even as equality seems nearer and nearer, these deceased children should never be forgotten. So maybe, one day, these deaths will not be in vain.