According to the Williams Institute’s Suicide Attempts among Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Adults report, the general population’s lifetime attempted suicide rate is 4.6 percent. However, the attempted lifetime suicide rate among transgender and gender non-conforming adults is forty-one percent. If you look at those who experienced rejection by family and friends, those who experienced discrimination, and those who were victimized or victims of violence, the percentages are even higher — ranging from fifty to seventy-eight percent.

As you may know, President Trump recently rescinded the Title IX guidance requiring schools to allow transgender students to use the facilities matching their gender expression that Obama had instituted last year. The arguments offered by supporters of this action vary from “he’s just giving the right to decide this back to the states” to horrifyingly vile and hateful language against people like me. (I shan’t repeat any of it. Just look on Facebook or Twitter or Google or, frankly, your nearest right-wing conservative news site if you want to see it.)

Of course, I find specious the argument that this should be up to the states. We don’t let states decide on slavery anymore, and for good reason: far too many states were more than happy to maintain slavery — they even went to war over it. Sometimes the federal government has to step in to protect the marginalized and oppressed precisely because the state governments aren’t protecting them and show no inclination of doing so in the future. There are a great many things that aren’t “state’s rights” — they are inalienable human rights, and if a state won’t uphold those rights, the federal government should (and must).

Furthermore, I also know that “state’s rights” isn’t really what the far right is fighting for. Why? Because every time a state did the right thing with regard to, say, same-sex marriage, conservative activists outside the state would decry it, and vow to work to undo it. So the state had decided (correctly), but, no, the “state’s rights” criers only meant “state’s rights” when the state decided the way they wanted them to decide. Talk about hypocrisy.

Frustratingly, the issue is often framed in terms of safety. What a horrible way to approach the issue — it spreads FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) about transgender and gender non-conforming individuals among a populace who may not have any personal experience with us, and it maligns us as perverts, rapists, and molesters. The argument goes that we have to protect against violent men posing as transgender in the women’s to protect women and children from violent crime. Well, guess what: we already have laws for that kind of behavior!

Here’s what I know: transgender and gender non-conforming individuals present zero risk to others when using the facilities that match their gender expression. Seriously — we just need to pee. Just like you and everyone else on the planet. I also know that transgender and gender non-conforming individuals face a tremendous risk to life and limb when they use the facilities opposite their gender expression. Unfortunately, given laws like many “trans-panic laws” on the books in many places, I have zero faith that the law will deal correctly with those who hurt and kill us. Never mind that should we be killed, the media and police often misgender us and strip us of our hard-fought identities.

Here’s what I also know: this kind of discrimination against transgender and gender-non-conforming individuals is precisely why the attempted suicide rate is so high. We are made to feel as if we are broken, disgusting, perverted, and honestly, less than human, and we learn that from moment one. Schools should be a place of learning about the universe, about math, about history, but instead school is far too often a place where people like me quickly discover that they are hated, and that there are people out there who would like nothing more than to erase us from existence. It’s no wonder, when faced with such overwhelming vitriol and hatred that we become discouraged and depressed and attempt suicide.

I find it interesting that the very same cohort claiming the label pro-life and who are clamoring against abortion and reproductive rights continue to support and endorse actions that betray their own label. Pursuing actions that increase the chance of an attempted suicide (and thus the chance of a successful suicide) are anything but pro-life! (As is the refusing of refugees, discrimination against Muslims, the “live the sinner, hate the sin” mindset, etc.)

To those of you who voted for Trump, I can’t help but perceive that you voted for this: the systematic discrimination against and erasure from society of transgender and gender non-conforming people. You voted for actions that will lead to the loss of life, not the saving of life. In a very real way, you voted to take my life and the lives of others like me away.

I remember one moment when I was only a few months into my transition. I was visiting an institution where I wasn’t out yet, and I was trying my level best to cover up my physical changes. Of course, one’s bladder doesn’t usually stop working on command, and so I needed to use the facilities. The only realistic choice available was the men’s. I almost escaped unscathed due to the fact that no one was there. But while I was washing my hands, someone did come in, and the look of surprise on their face told me everything I needed to know: Never again would I be safe using the men’s facilities; my transition was too obvious, and there are too many bullies out there who wish me harm.

I’ve known many bullies in my childhood, and although I hope many of them grew into far better adults, I know that there exist many bullies who would have no problem hurling insults my way, or worse, harming me in some way or even killing me. I know that if I were currently a teen-age student that my life would be endangered every time I used the restroom that the conservative and far-right groups say I should use. I know I would not emerge unscathed.

I know I might not make it out alive. The statistics prove that for far too many people, they almost didn’t, and that many other lives ended far too early.

Why, Evangelical and Fundamentalist Christian who voted for Trump, do you claim to desire what Jesus would do, and yet support actions that clearly betray everything your Christ supposedly stood for? Why, when you claim to value life so much, do you advance laws and agendas that destroy it? Have you forgotten your duty to feed the hungry, heal the sick, clothe the poor, visit the widowed and imprisoned, and treat the refugee as if they were a citizen? And that whatever you did for the least of these, you did for him? Have you forgotten that Jesus said that only those without sin can cast the first stone, and that He (whom you believe was sinless) cast no stone at all? Or that Jesus hadn’t intended just to bring life, but to bring it abundantly? It seems to me that you’ve skipped over a large number of verses in your own scriptures! And for what? Power, money, fame, and the right to oppress anyone who is different from you? Is that what your Jesus wanted?

To those of you who voted for Trump and who are rightly disgusted by his actions and those of his supporters: raise your voice and decry their actions and withdraw your support. You got him elected, now do something about it. The rest of us are depending on you to do the right thing.

To those who stand on the right side of history and continue to speak out against oppression and discrimination against transgender and gender non-conforming individuals (and truly, against oppression and discrimination in all its forms), thank you. Please continue to speak out, for you truly are a ray of hope, a shining beacon of love, in what increasingly appears to be a very bleak and foreboding future. Your words may be the very thing that gives someone like me the will and strength to carry on.

To those who feel as if they can go on no farther: you are beautiful, there’s nothing wrong with you, and you. are. loved. The majority of the country did not vote for this. You have allies who will rally to your side. If you need help, please, reach out! Call the Trans Lifeline (https://www.translifeline.org, US: (877) 565–8860 Canada: (877) 330–6366), or the Trevor Project (http://www.thetrevorproject.org, 1–866–488–7386). They can help. We need your beautiful life, shining amongst the throng of those who dared to be themselves. You matter, and the world is better off for having you in it. Please stay.