Growing up is already hard enough but growing up knowing who you are and not being able to express it because you feel obligated to live up to the expectations of someone you never were is worse. The reality is, this is how life is for many Transgender individuals. Whether people realize it or not Transgender people do exist and we encounter them more frequently than you'd think. Puberty is already something to be dreaded and for transgender individuals all it is is a reminder that nothing about them is the way it’s supposed to be. Acceptance and tolerance are already big issues within the lgbtq community but it’s an even bigger issue within the Trans* community. Some people have a more accepting and supportive group of people in their live ups while others aren't so lucky. Both perspectives take on a unique role in making people more aware that their identities are valid. 2016 has been the deadliest year for the lgbtq+ community. The deadliest mass shooting since 9/11/01 took place on June 12th of this year at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida Killing 49 members of the lgbtq+ community and injuring 53 others. Since then there have been 15 deaths of Transgender women of color, those deaths have all involved hate crime. In 2014 Transgender teen Leelah Alcorn, age 17 from Ohio committed suicide by walking in front of traffic, in 2015 transgender teen Ash Haffner, Age 16 from North Carolina committed suicide the same way. All of these deaths have one thing in common, they all involve some sort of hate or non acceptance, whether it had been themselves not accepting who they were or someone else. That is definitely a threat to the growing population of lgbt+ youth. Of course there is always going to be narrow minded people that just simply don't want to understand because they don't want to be faced with difference, but they don't realize the struggle transgender people go through everyday. For a lot of transgender people self acceptance has been life long. People who have been out for years still face this along with the constant question of “what if”. So many people struggle with the concept of never really living up to the standards of themselves, they try to push themselves to act or look a certain to be perceived as the person the want to be but feel like they may never reach their goal. All and all, living as something other than “the norm” can be difficult but the people that have struggled through and survived to see things get better make the journey worth it.
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