Ciora Thomas: How Toomey can help protect, empower next generation
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The other day, I stood on the steps by the river at Pittsburgh’s Point State Park getting my photograph taken, along with several other colleagues, to add to my nonprofit organization’s website.
I founded SisTers PGH in 2013 for fellow TGNC (trans and gender-nonconforming) folks after years of struggling with addiction and homelessness as a young Black trans girl. Throughout that time, I spent many nights sleeping on those very same steps.
The moment was a stark reminder of how far I’ve come, but also how far our society and our state still have to go when it comes to protecting our youth, especially our trans youth.
When TGNC youth are rejected, harassed or abused by their families, remaining at home can feel impossible. Others are outright kicked out of their homes and cannot find a shelter that will accept them. This is why, currently, LGBTQIA+ youth make up 40% of our nation’s homeless population.
Luckily, the Equality Act offers our country an opportunity to change that.
The Equality Act, which passed with a bipartisan vote in the House of Representatives in February and is now working its way through the Senate, would protect transgender and nonbinary people from discrimination on the basis of their gender identity or sexual orientation in everyday life.
Although the Supreme Court’s decision in Bostock v. Clayton County and President Biden’s Day One executive order reaffirmed that people cannot be fired for being LGBTQIA+, the Equality Act would embed these protections formally into law and extend them to all other areas of society, including housing, public accommodations, public education, credit and more.
It would mean people like Young Me would have fewer roadblocks keeping us from finding shelter.
Housing insecurity also makes you more susceptible to mental health issues, including thoughts of suicide. According to the Trevor Project’s latest national survey, more than half of all transgender and nonbinary youth seriously considered attempting suicide in the year 2020.
We know that trans youth are not prone to suicide simply because of their gender identity. They are at higher risk because of the increased experiences of violence and victimization, and just one accepting adult can help reduce this by 40%.
Think about that. One adult, including one of our Pennsylvania congressmen, Sen. Pat Toomey, can change the entire course of a young trans person’s life.
This is why I, and so many other TGNC activists across the state, are asking him and Sen. Bob Casey to do the moral thing and vote “yes” for justice and dignity.
If Toomey truly cares for our nation’s children and their future, if he genuinely embraces freedom, opportunity and empowerment for all, supporting the Equality Act should be the easiest decision he ever makes as a legislator.
The Equality Act will save lives. It will get children off the streets. It will help give them a sense of belonging and hope, two things that many of our communities throughout the Keystone State and throughout the country lack.
Trans kids matter. They are our future, after all. And it’s past time our nation’s laws reflect that.
I implore Toomey to do his part in empowering our next generation and make equality and shelter the law of this land.
Ciora Thomas works to change the lives of transgender BIPOC youth as the founder/director of SisTers PGH, chair of the LGBTQIA Advisory Council of Pittsburgh, and co-vice chair of the Pennsylvania Commission on LGBT Affairs.