Ashton Clatterbuck was simple to explain to those who knew him: a charismatic person with a huge joke and a quick humour. a quick marathon runner and a voracious readers. An accomplished advocate who tirelessly advocated for change and for inequity.
Another trans person who sought acceptance but died much too fresh is what his family and friends find so much more difficult to explain.
His mother, Malinda Clatterbuck, described him as having” a positive impact on so many life for good in his little life.” ” I cannot convey how badly our souls hurt. His laugh was infectious, and his joy opened the eyes of so many hurting people.
More than 100 friends and supporters gathered at Penn Square in Lancaster on Thursday evening to pay their father’s death, including Malinda Clatterbuck and her father, Mark Clatterbuck. The 22-year-old Martic Township resident died by suicide on Tuesday, according to his kids. At Montclair State University in New Jersey, he was a young majoring in media and social science.
Ash was a truly amazing person who, as a result of knowing him, made our lives so much brighter. May God bless him in his recollection. Izzy Smith Wade- El, a Democrat state representative from Lancaster and the one who organized the vigil, said.
For 15 days of silent mirror, mourning lit candles and sat together in the cold. Audrey Salmons, one of Clatterbuck’s companions, read Richard Wilbur’s song Advice to a Prophet. The audience sang” Courage, My Friend,” a traditional opposition music, as family companion Jamie Beth Cohen from Lancaster led the group.
As individuals found brotherhood with one another after the ceremony, the sounds of crying and whispering replaced them with talk, a cello, and even some laughter.
Some of the people he knew knew Clatterbuck well. Deklan Rupp of Lancaster, one of the many who came out to support a transgender community that, according to him, just wants to be accepted but is instead subject to unending attention and denigration in the media, politics, and school board meetings.
Rupp said,” It was very moving only to see how many people were there, only to see how many people’s lives were changed by Ash.”
Rupp, a trans man who serves as music minister at the Mountville-based Vision of Hope Metropolitan Community Church, said it’s crucial for trans people to” demonstrate up and make ourselves known.”
Rupp said he was shocked to learn that this is the second young transgender person to pass away in Lancaster County in the previous year. Both Theodora” Thea” Cassidy of Ephrata and River Olmsted of Manheim Township passed away last fall, only weeks off.
According to Rupp, young trans people must feel accepted and know where to go if they need assistance navigating gender identity, home, and the stresses of being targeted by politicians and advocate parties.
Rupp remarked,” I have also just reached out to individuals and said, hey, I need to talk.”
READ: Ashton Clatterbuck’s columns and letters [roundup ]
” Coming together in love and joy”
Parker Webb, the executive director of Lititz Chooses Love, was now busy planning activities for the night vigil to assist those in the LGBTQ+ area who were dealing with grief and sadness.
Coming up in love and joy during this challenging time in our community can be healing, Webb said. He referred people to three approaching Lititz Chooses Love events online: a meeting for grownups, coffee, and music.
Webb simply stated that” we are in an crisis.” And we want to collaborate with people. We’re here if you want to operate with our society. Gay people must feel welcome in places where we need.
A year ago, Chriss Nelson, a Clay Township native who identify as nonbinary and is the president and founder of Trans Minors Rights, met with Ash Clatterbuck at an arts and crafts meeting.
” Tuesday’s celebration attracted a lot of people,” said one witness. I did n’t anticipate that. Ash had an enormous impact on the lives of countless people,” Nelson said. ” It was truly amazing what he and his relatives did.” It will continue to grow. It provided for a source of inspiration. Meeting for a compassionate man was a blessing.
Nelson pointed out that Transgender people can call free alerts from The Trevor Project and Trans Lifeline if they need assistance or just want to speak to anyone. She said,” I think they’ve been a little overloaded with calls over the past year.”
” The social environment has just been truly dangerous recently,” Nelson said. People appear to be urging crime. The recent incident involving Nex ( Benedict ) was just an illustration of how irate people have become, in my opinion. Therefore, I believe it is crucial to continue to educate and support policy that protects people.
Nelson claimed that Clatterbuck’s suicide had shaken them.
Even having a supportive family is n’t enough because the political climate has become so much more dangerous. Politicians using their systems to do something that is thus harmful to our community is definitely frightening.
Clatterbuck himself made a point about this issue, but as his parents asserted, his father’s behavior was not involuntary. In October 2022, Mark Clatterbuck’s son took him to a” ReAwaken America” event at Spooky Nook, according to Mark Clatterbuck. He wanted to give transgender people a chance to join them.
Ash Clatterbuck was in line to shake the hands of Michael Flynn, a conspiracy theorist and national security adviser during the Trump presidency.
According to Mark Clatterbuck,” It was that kind of whimsical, revolutionary way that he confronted anger.”
Ash Clatterbuck addressed a range of problems facing LGBTQ+ people as a poet and occasional contributor to the LNP | LancasterOnline mind section.
He wrote in May that “making it illegitimate” to be trans does not prevent trans people from being born transgender. ” Closing your eyes does n’t make us go away,” says the saying. Queer Americans are seriously harmed by the anti-LGBT+ political stunts we see all over the country that pass for religious freedom and spiritual piety.
According to Chatterbuck, approximately 1.5 % of Americans identify as transgender, according to a research by the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Law and Public Policy at UCLA. The GOP is aware of this, according to Clatterbuck, who wrote.
America is a nation of variety, addition, power, and independence. How does my very life issue those principles — your values in any way? Your choices cannot alter who we are. Your attitude toward us is the only factor you may alter.
Her boy may be remembered for more than just supporting LGBTQ+ right, according to Malinda Clatterbuck.
She continued,” He usually sided with and advocated for disadvantaged people.” She said she recalls sitting up as a home, reciting the Lord’s Prayer, and contemplating the Beatitudes, which are included in the New Testament of the Bible.
She said organizations that have targeted transgender people will likely try to portray her brother as a” tortured mind,” a belief she rejects.
She continued,” He was hardly a abused soul.” ” He was like a ray of light,” he said. Because of our culture’s creation of a world where people like Ash are hardly welcome, why was he tortured?
Help is available if you are considering death. Call or text 988.
Visit The Trevor Project at 1 866 488 7386 to speak or word START to 678 678 to get in touch with a counselor who specializes in LGBTQ+ problems.
Trans Lifeline offers transgender people in crisis strong emotional and financial assistance. Visit 1- 877 565- 8860.
The Lancaster County Regional Journalism Fund provides funding for this reporter’s job. Visit www.lanc.org for more information or to contribute. news/supportlocaljournalism
