Jeff Bower is a priest in the Diocese of Indianapolis and serves as a rector at St. Who am I to hide when my civil rights are up for grabs? Who am I to let the next generation sort this out on their own while trying to sort out their personal lives?” What gives me the right to hide my experiences? My life isn’t all rainbows and lollipops but it’s far away from the desperation of suicidal ideation. “Suddenly my privacy seemed very selfish to me. After that, Korvin knew he needed to share his story, including with lawmakers.
Korvin felt a connection with this boy not just because of their shared transgender identity, but because the boy played roller derby-just like Korvin. That tendency toward privacy, he said, changed in April of 2015, when he heard of a young transgender kid who had committed suicide after starting the process of coming.
Korvin said he had always been a private person, and that even during his transition, the experience was very personal and he wanted it to be “as quick as possible.” He spoke at length to lawmakers about how he came out to his friends, family and community as transgender, and how the process and be all at once isolating and empowering. Korvin Bothwell is the owner of VitalSkates, a skate shop in Indianapolis. You can show them that Indiana cares for them and they belong here.” And my heart breaks for the struggles our youth face daily. But I can’t stand to lose any more in the process. We do everything we can to protect them, help them find opportunities, build lives, leave bad family situations and start over from nothing. “My youth are strong, and they have each other. In his closing statement, Lane told lawmakers that they must not pass up another opportunity to truly change the lives of transgender youth in the state: In his testimony, Lane told lawmakers that Indiana’s teen suicide rate is the highest in the country (30% attempted or seriously considered suicide), and that transgender teens attempt or seriously consider suicide at four times the rate of their peers. He spoke at length to lawmakers about the bullying and other threats-both at home and at school-that transgender kids experience on a daily basis. Lane Banister is the education program coordinator at the Indiana Youth Group and is himself transgender, so he knows very well the kinds of struggles transgender young people face in Indiana. Business leaders in particular spoke about the challenges of promoting economic development in a state that now has a reputation for being unwelcoming toward LGBT people. Many shared what it’s like to live with the constant worry-and day-to-day experience-of being discriminated against because of who they are or who they love. Today, LGBT Hoosiers, business leaders, faith leaders and other allies from across the state stood in front of a committee of Indiana lawmakers to make the case for why the state needs to adopt nondiscrimination protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Hoosiers Testify to Lawmakers on Why They Must Pass LGBT-Nondiscrimination Protections in 2017 August 30, 2016