Henry Berg-Brousseau, Transgender Rights Activist, Has Died at 24
Trans rights activist Henry Berg-Brousseau, who worked to oppose anti-transgender legislation in his home state of Kentucky before going on to work with the Human Rights Campaign, died Friday at the age of 24.His mother, Kentucky Democratic state Sen.
Karen Berg, said Berg-Brousseau died by suicide.In a statement posted on Twitter via Bluegrass Politics, Berg said that her son had spent his life “working to extend grace, compassion, and understanding to everyone, but especially to the vulnerable and marginalized.”She added that “this grace, compassion, and understanding was not always returned to him” as a transgender man.
The state senator called out the politicians who actively sought to marginalize her son because of who Berg-Brousseau was.Berg said Berg-Brousseau had dealt with mental illness, “not because he was trans but born from his difficulty finding acceptance.”He was born in Louisville, Kent., according to an obituary.“While a student at Louisville Collegiate School, he advocated for the rights of transgender people by organizing a protest against gay conversion therapy, speaking to the Kentucky Senate Education Committee, and participating in other local and national causes.
His speech to the committee was shared on John Oliver Tonight,” it said.Berg-Brousseau went on to double major at George Washington University in political science and history and minored in Jewish Studies.In his work with the Human Rights Campaign, Berg said her son was acutely aware of the hateful rhetoric rising against transgender people in the country, adding that he saw that hate firsthand directed at his job.
