Cyberviolence against the LGBTQ+ community: a trans woman denounces a petition calling for her death

A trans woman is denouncing violence and discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community on social media after being directly targeted by a petition calling for her to take her own life.

Followed by more than 50,000 people on TikTok alone, Amy Fournier, a 20-year-old trans woman, regularly posts educational videos about her transition and shares her daily life.

Although she had already encountered many hate messages, she received quite a shock last month when someone informed her that a petition calling for her to take her own life was circulating online.

“I also suggest that he take his own life. With teamwork, we can achieve this. We must protect children. Trans people should all be executed or sent to an island outside of our civilization,” reads the petition, which was signed by 543 people.

“I get through it, but eventually it gets heavy. You come to wonder if you're that much of a nuisance, and if the world would be better off without you. I won’t let myself get discouraged, but I think there are much more important problems,” she denounces.

A double standard?

She also deplores the toxic climate of social networks, where intimidation and threats towards members of the LGBTQ+ community seem normalized.

The young woman believes that it is a reaction of fear to a situation poorly understood by many people. She adds that no one makes a transition for pure pleasure, since in addition to being expensive, it comes with consequences on health as well as the social circle.

“I am often told that I have decided to be trans and that I must accept it, but it is not a choice. If I hadn't transitioned, I probably would have taken my own life. You don’t wake up one morning and say to yourself: “I’m sick. Today I become a woman.” […] My goal is to educate and reduce hatred, not to create an army of trans children.”

Better educate

Without commenting on the case of Amy Fournier in particular, the president of the Alliance Arc-en-ciel de Québec, Béatrice Robichaud, believes that more education must be done to counter discrimination.

“Some are campaigning for children not to be approached about this, but this results in people who do not understand when they face a person who is experiencing this because they have never heard of it.”

“It is completely normal to learn that there are individuals who are different from oneself. […] “It’s in the same way that we need to talk to children about the fact that they might come across someone with a missing limb or with tattoos,” she believes.