*Note: This post was shared prior to the release of the United States v. Skrmetti Supreme Court decision.

As a trans adult, who is now able to support trans youth like I was supported, I am disgusted. Any day now, the U.S. Supreme Court will release its decision on United States v. Skrmetti. It is terrifying and disturbing for all trans people to see our rights debated. Litigating our rights, our ability to get lifesaving medical care, our very existence, endangers our lives. Limiting or banning gender affirming care is antithetical to our value of pikuach nefesh, that preserving human life is one of the most important things we can do.

No one knows yet how the Skrmetti decision will ultimately impact trans youth.

What we do know, what I know, is that even threatening to limit or take away life-saving medical care for trans people is a vile and dangerous thing to do. And by the nature of questioning the rights of trans youth, it has done harm. As found by the Trevor Project, as a result of these political debates, nearly 1 in 3 transgender youth felt that it wasn’t safe to go to a doctor or the hospital when they were sick. And what we do know is that as new anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ+ attacks continue, we will show up for each other. And we will stand with trans youth.

I grew up in southern Indiana, where I was kept from gender-affirming care until I was an adult, and I was one of the “lucky” ones. I had a youth group that supported me, cared about me, and gave me opportunities to lead and to speak up. But at the same time, I remember the suicide notes of trans teens Leelah and Zander. I remember the horrific stories of harassment and abuse transgender youth experience, resulting in more than half of us contemplating suicide, and over a quarter of us attempting it.

As I began my career dedicated to supporting and empowering youth, after being a recipient of that support, I held on to one statistic tightly: If an LGBTQ+ youth has one supportive adult in their life, the risk of suicide drops by 40%.

Our work at Keshet ensures that more youth have access to supportive adults. The entire Youth Programs Team, as well as the rest of Keshet’s staff, are in contact with our youth-serving colleagues all across the U.S. to ensure that trans Jewish youth know that they will always have a home in the Jewish community.

In Florida, our Boca Queer Jewish Youth Alliance has been supporting LGBTQ+ Jewish teens from all over South Florida. Nationally, we’ve hosted online and in-person spaces for tweens, high schoolers, and young adults. 

And we’re gearing up for our first-ever Shabbaton weekend retreat in the Pacific Northwest this fall; we held a first-ever Keshet Shabbaton in Texas this past November, just after the election. 

My colleague Sawyer Goldsmith and I shared these thoughts with our community after the inauguration: “We will not separate from each other, not when we know just how much love and care we have for each other.” This is just as true now as it was eight months ago.

Together, we must continue the work of protecting transgender, nonbinary, and intersex youth. Here are some ways to do just that: 

• Move to Thrive, an interest-free loan initiative from Keshet and Hebrew Free Loan Society, born out of recognizing the need of LGBTQ+ individuals and families to relocate in order to stay safe. Move to Thrive seeks support to expand the fund to support more people. 
• Thrive: The Jewish Coalition to Defend Trans and LGBQ+ Youth, is working nationwide to combat anti-trans bills and is eager for more organizations to join. 
• All states have seen a dramatic increase in anti-trans legislation. By contacting your representatives and signing on to Keshet’s Jewish Pledge to Affirm the Dignity of Trans, Nonbinary, and Intersex People, we can stand together for the trans and LGBQ+ Jewish community. 
• LGBTQ+ and ally Jewish youth: you are always encouraged to join our youth programs.

Please know: We will not separate from each other. We will not back down from a vision of a world with equal rights for all trans youth, a world of dignity and safety, for all LGBTQ+ people, all Jews, all of us. As Marsha P. Johnson declared: “No pride for some of us without liberation for all of us.”

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Issac Young is Keshet’s Midwest Youth Engagement Manager.