Reaffirming Our Support for LGBTQ+ Rights and in Particular, Those of Trans and Nonbinary People.
Reaffirming Our Support for LGBTQ+ Rights and in Particular, Those of Trans and Nonbinary People
A reflection on the recent tragedy in Oklahoma.
On February 8, a 16-year-old high school student named Nex Benedict, who identified as nonbinary, died a day after they told their family they were in a fight in a bathroom at their school in Owasso, Oklahoma. While the cause of the tragedy remains under investigation, Nex’s mother has said they experienced bullying and that it began not long after Oklahoma passed a law requiring students to use the bathrooms matching the sex they were assigned at birth.
First, I want to take a moment to convey my deepest sympathies for the family and friends of Nex, and for all those who are feeling this loss deeply. This is a terrible tragedy, and I know many of us in the public health community are feeling this on a personal level. My hope is that we find comfort in one another, and in our commitment to creating a world where there are no such tragedies.
As details about the tragedy continue to emerge, this deeply sad incident echoes challenges to LGBTQ+ health, and, in particular, to trans health, we have seen in recent years. While the last decade has seen many gains in efforts to support the dignity and health of this population—from marriage equality to the Bostock Supreme Court decision ruling that transgender individuals are to be included in the protections of the 1964 Civil Rights Act—we have also seen a backlash to this progress. Across the country, bills targeting LGBTQ+ populations have advanced through state legislatures. Political rhetoric has increasingly veered into bigoted, hateful tropes about LGBTQ+ individuals. These recent challenges to LGBTQ+ health echo a history of marginalization and exclusion that has long undermined the health of this population. LGBTQ+ individuals have faced threats, discrimination, even violence simply for being who they are.
These challenges should be unacceptable to us; they have no place in a healthy world. I have written and said many times that such a world is one where everyone can live dignified lives free of harassment, exclusion, and hate. For this reason, supporting the health of LGBTQ+ populations—and, in this moment of challenge, particularly trans populations—is, and should always be, central to the work of public health. The challenges of the moment should not obscure the progress we have made in this area. This progress should give us hope that continued progress remains possible, even in the face of challenges and bad-faith political attacks. Just as activists and advocates persevered through eras defined by tragedy and overt, often state-sanctioned, discrimination against LGBTQ+ populations, we have a responsibility now to keep moving forward in the face of difficulty, towards building a world where tragedies like what happened in Oklahoma no longer occur.
It is important, always, to reaffirm that public health is about inclusion and human dignity for all, and about ensuring that no one feels the weight of exclusion, scapegoating, or hate. In this respect, 2024 has the potential to be a turning point year, in which the national debate shapes a federal election with deep implications for the health of populations. This weighs on us, and it should weigh on us. It is our responsibility during this year to help elevate perspectives which insist on the dignity and health of LGBTQ+ populations. It is important to remind the world that LGBTQ+ is not a political abstraction. LGBTQ+ persons are our friends, our family, our community, ourselves. We cannot be a healthy country or world unless we are all included in our vision of health. This means creating the legal rights, the social and political recognition of our shared basic humanity, and the understanding that any attempt to deny this humanity is abhorrent, and, indeed, un-American. This election year has the potential to strengthen and entrench backlash to LGBTQ+ rights, or it can be a turning of the page on a new chapter in the story of our collective health in which we are all made healthier by standing in solidarity with all populations who face poor health due to their identity.
While as a school we have long been committed to the work of turning this page, of acting in accordance with our essential values of respect, inclusion, and dignity for all, it seems, yet again, important to acknowledge the difficulty of this work, its effect on our collective emotions. For this reason, we will this coming week and the following be holding a series of conversations for students, faculty, staff, and the full community on the state of the world in this moment, where members of our community can share thoughts or simply hold space. I also refer all to the resources available for any who are in distress.
A tragedy cannot be redeemed. Nothing can bring back those we have lost to violence, hate, and poor health. But we can do something about the forces that led to this loss. We can end bigotry and injustice. We can oppose the politics of hate. History has shown us that we have the power to create positive change, that we have made tremendous strides already, even as we still have far to go. Thank you for keeping the faith, for honoring the memory of those we have lost by doing our part to advance forces that create health.
Warm regards,
Sandro
Sandro Galea, MD, DrPH
Dean and Robert A. Knox Professor
This Dean’s Note is a modified version of a prior Dean’s Note. Previous Dean’s Notes are archived at: http://www.bu.edu/sph/tag/deansnote/
