Mental Health Awareness Week — Day 5.
Domestic abuse and LGBTQ+ issues
I would hug all my friends if they weren’t friends with you
You don’t know what it’s like to be nothing at all
When the night turns cold my thoughts feel like stone
2. Monsters — All Time Low (ft. Blackbear)
Why do all the monsters come out at night?
Why do we sleep where we want to hide?
Why do I run back to you
Like I don’t mind if you fuck up my life?
I haven’t experienced domestic abuse myself. But I’ve had friends go through it. I don’t like complaining about it, because they had it so much worse. But it’s bad being on the outside too. Not allowed to see, message or talk to your friend. Knowing they’re going home with someone violent and dangerous. Having panic attacks that they’re going to be hurt or killed and you wouldn’t know and you weren’t able to protect them. Juggling letting them know you’re still there for them, whilst not making their situation any worse by contacting them. Working out how to balance your mental health with all of this fear and guilt and worry. Sometimes you wish you cared less. “I would hug all my friends if they weren’t friends with you”. Monsters is from the point of view of the abused — the monsters come out at night, when there’s no-one else there to see them.
3. HEAVEN — Troye Sivan ft. Betty Who
Without losing a piece of me
How do I get to heaven?
Without changing a part of me
How do I get to heaven?
All my time is wasted
Feeling like my heart’s mistaken, oh
So if I’m losing a piece of me
Maybe I don’t want heaven
I’m not giving up who I am, to get to heaven. A heaven where I can’t be myself isn’t heaven. I’m not religious. But for religious people homophobia and transphobia absolutely affect their mental health. Choosing between your family and a shot at heaven versus being who you are. Being gay, being trans is not a fault. It’s not a sin. It’s not a sign of a damaged kid. Yes, some of us were already damaged kids. Some of us became damaged kids because we had to hide who we were, hate ourselves, risk everything to be who we are. We became damaged because we risk verbal and physical attacks when we step outside. Because we’re rejected by the people who are meant to love us unconditionally. We become broken because society breaks us, not because our gender or sexuality breaks us. This short film is incredible, please give it a watch.
4. Same Love — Macklemore + Ryan Lewis ft. Mary Lambert
Their kids are walkin’ around the hallway
Plagued by pain in their heart
A world so hateful, some would rather die than be who they are
And a certificate on paper
Isn’t gonna solve it all, but it’s a damn good place to start
No law’s gonna change us
We have to change us. Whatever God you believe in
We come from the same one
Strip away the fear
Underneath it’s all the same love
About time that we raised up
This is a damn queer anthem. Enough said. It’s all the same love.
No, your mom don’t get it
And your dad don’t get it
Uncle John don’t get itAnd you can’t tell grandma
’Cause her heart can’t take it
And she might not make itThey say, “Don’t dare, don’t you even go there”
“Cutting off your long hair”
“You do as you’re told”
Tell you, “Wake up, go put on your makeup”
“This is just a phase you’re gonna outgrow”There’s something wrong in the village
In the village, oh
They stare in the village
In the village, ohThere’s nothing wrong with you
It’s true, it’s true
There’s something wrong with the village
With the village
There’s something wrong with the village
People don’t get trans people. “don’t dare, don’t you even go there, cutting off your long hair, you do as you’re told”. “this is just a phase you’re going to outgrow”. We’re constantly told this is a phase. We are told we can’t be trans because we wore that dress once, we wore make-up once. We’ve worked so hard to fit in, we’ve tried to be happy as our sex assigned at birth, because we’re constantly told that trans people are odd and dangerous. We know that trans women are overrepresented in the victims of murders. We worry some transphobic person will clock us and attack us. Despite that, we know we can’t go on as our sex assigned as birth. It’s not a phase, it’s who we are. You may be surprised by us coming out, but only because we’ve spent so long hiding it so well. We decide to value our mental health over our physical safety. That takes a lot, so people should accept self-identification so much more. “There’s nothing wrong with you, it’s true” “there’s something wrong with the village”. It’s society’s problem. It’s not ours.
