I think I have talked about this in the past. But I am going to take a deeper look at how it impacts the Transgender Community. So I am going to try to bring this down in simple terms. But first, let’s take a look at what it is in a clinical statement.

“Generational trauma is exactly what it sounds like trauma that isn’t just experienced by one person but extends from one generation to the next. “It can be silent, covert, and undefined, surfacing through nuances and inadvertently taught or implied throughout someone’s life from an early age onward,” licensed clinical psychologist and parenting evaluator Melanie English, Ph.D.“

The way to think about generational trauma is to look at it as a snowball at the top of a great mountain. As the ball begins to roll down there might not be many ripples or collisions. But as it gets bigger it will cause more collisions and ripples there will be other snowballs created. When it reaches the end it will crash as it does it drags an avalanche with it.

Now think about it. As Trauma is left untreated it will become a snowball. The longer is it left untreated the more that is impacted. How does this work within a family environment? Well, the best way I can describe it to you is by the use of my own family. My father suffered trauma many times in his left leaving him with PTSD. The biggest part of his PTSD was due to the war in Vietnam. Growing up with him and his Trauma before he received treatment was a nightmarish hell at times. But to be honest, PTSD, when I was growing up, was not something that was talked about much less an overall commonplace in conversations. I cannot fault my father when it did come time for him to get the treatment he did. But the harm was already done to others in my family. My dad does not carry this burden alone. My mother was just as bad with her response to the loss of her father. What the two of them caused with their snowballs was each of us children grew up with very poor mental health and an even more unhealthy understanding of proper self-care and awareness. Our whole family gravitated to a religion that was very controlling if not abusive in actions. That choice we made as a family harmed us more than it did for us. We now live in a more informed society about trauma and grief. But that does not mean my family was left unharmed by their actions and choices. At a certain point, we can leave this stop the harm by becoming educated and moving out of the way of the snowball. P.S. Not many can do this and if they can it takes YEARS.

How does this apply to the Transgender community? What we really need to look at is the overall LGBT+ communities. Because of the Trauma, we all have faced over the years at the hands of families, others, and governments. Why does it then fall into generational trauma? There is a number of reasons for this. For the most part, the LGBT+ community has built itself into a family unit because a lot of our families have turned their backs on us. Leaving us with the need to build one of our own. The Trauma has not ended but only intensified with attacks from governments. Year after year more and more children are impacted by this trauma. But instead of seeing this Trauma and acting to stop it. Families, people, organizations, and governments create more i.e. the avalanche.

While as a parent I understand that we only want the best for our children and that they come before our needs. Some parents even look for reasons why their child is not achieving what they feel is their right. Not allowing the lesson of a good loser to take hold. It is the same poor thinking that every child needs a participation award. In life, there are winners and losers fucking deal with it. Some parents are not supporting them even in loss and failure. We place unrealistic expectations upon the children. Then there are some who look for reasons to blame or someone as to why their children did not achieve. Such as the case when parents blame Transgender youth for making it unfair in sports. Perpetuating the Trauma of the snowball.

So what is the impact of the Trauma? This can be seen in several different areas of society. Most of the LGBT+ communities have learned over the years not to trust. We have even come to the point that we don’t even have hope for trust at certain times. What I mean is we for the most part do not trust right-learning governments. Because these are the ones that have gone on the attack towards our communities with relentless hate. Most are driven by a set of extremist religious donors. Who blame everything under the sun for the failure of their focus of beliefs not appearing in the flesh to “Save” them. When we look at the impact of the Trauma caused by these groups we can see this in the support for anti-equal marriage. Or we can see it in the anti-transgender bills which are aimed at children of all people.
Then we can even see it in the loss of hope for those who believe in any belief structure. With that hope and trust loss, it creates trauma. Because it was a part of your life and now through no fault of your own it has been taken away from you. Each generation that follows the one before only builds upon the trauma. What is sickening is that new trauma is that is created and aimed solely towards children. As a parent, I cannot see what and why someone would willingly abuse children on a mass scale. While complaining that women and children need to be protected. Then we must ask the question who does people need to be protected from? The answer is solidly the person who feels the need to abuse others.