Democratic state Sen. Karen Berg of Kentucky announced Tuesday that her child Henry Berg had passed away due to suicide and placed blame on anti-trans rhetoric in a statement on Twitter.
Henry Berg, the deputy press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), was 24 and identified as a transgender man. Sen. Berg released an official statement Tuesday stating that Henry had passed away late last week and cited the difficulty to protect her children from “politicians intentionally … marginalizing my child.”(RELATED: GAMA SOSA: The Respect For Marriage Act Gave The Trans Lobby An Early Christmas Present)
“On a daily basis at his job, Henry would be aware of the hateful and vile anti-trans messaging being circulated around this country and focused at his workplace,” Berg wrote on Twitter. “This hate building across the country weighed on him.”
Statement from Sen. @karenforky on the passing of her son, Henry: pic.twitter.com/0zuhYEseXz
— KY Senate Democrats (@KYSenateDems) December 20, 2022
Berg said Henry had expressed safety concerns and stated that “acceptance took a toll on Henry.” HRC also released a statement and described Henry as a “fighter and an advocate” and that Berg’s death was an “unfathomable loss.”
“He was fighting for transgender rights as a teenager in Kentucky, far earlier than he should have had to,” the statement read. “As part of his job at HRC, he faced down anti-transgender vitriol every single day, and no one was more aware of the harm that anti-transgender rhetoric, messaging, and legislation could have on his community.”
While transgender activists claim that suicide rates for individuals struggling with gender dysphoria is as high as 41%, experts have disagreed with that assessment. Dr. Alison Clayton, an Australian psychiatrist, explained that commonly touted statistics used by trans activists are based on voluntary surveys and not clinical data, leading to seemingly much higher suicide rates.
“Every suicide is a terrible tragedy, and we’re all on the same page when it comes to protecting young people from any sort of suicidal thoughts or behavior,” Grossman said. “But the transgender suicide rate is nowhere near what those other statistics are suggesting. Those are exaggerated, and there is such a thing as social contagion.”
Kentucky has been a battleground state for transgender advocates and most recently, Kentucky passed a bill earlier this year barring biological males from participating in girls’ sports. The bill was initially vetoed by Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, but then passed after a General Assembly vote, according to The Beattyville Enterprise.
Berg and HRC did not reply to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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