Earlier this week, YouTuber Trisha Paytas uploaded a video titled "I AM TRANSGENDER (FEMALE TO MALE)," which reached 1.2 million views in just over 24 hours. The backlash from her video is overwhelming.
From her YouTube to Twitter and Instagram, she is being flooded with negative comments and reactions from her followers and fellow social media influencers.
I won't sit here and lie. When I originally watched the video, I had to pause it several times to collect my thoughts and process what she was saying. There were things that Trisha said that were honestly mind-boggling and didn't make much sense.
Personally, the video came off as offensive and uneducated. She said things like:
"I feel like I am a transgender female to male, but also like, a drag queen."
"...and the final thing that kind of brings it full transgender, almost, is I've always had penis envy..."
"Do I think I am transgender? Yes, one thousand percent. Do I identify with my natural born gender? A thousand percent."
Saying those things makes her sound like she isn't properly educated on the terminology used by the LGBTQ+ community.
She continued her video with the statement, "I don't love pronouns like 'they' and 'them' because that's super confusing, I think, personal opinion."
She stated that she felt like using "they/them" pronouns were more for referencing a group of people or someone with multiple personalities, not someone who doesn't identify with gender-specific pronouns.
She goes on to tell a story about a recent music video shoot she was doing. For the shoot, she dressed as Troy Bolton from "High School Musical." She talked about how, when she was wearing the Troy wig, she felt "free from herself and her body."
Just from looking at the comments under the video and from her most recent Instagram post, it is very clear that people want her "canceled" and to lose all support she has had from followers, to become irrelevant.
At first, I agreed with the masses of comments saying that she should be canceled.
Originally, I felt like Trish was making a mockery of the LGBTQ+ community and the fact that this week is National Coming Out Week.
I felt like my thoughts were justified because Trish got her fame from trolling videos and talking about sensitive topics in a way that made it clear she felt no remorse for anyone she was potentially offending.
Within 24 hours, Trish released a second video titled "apology," where she tearfully tried to explain what she meant in her original video and that no one knows what struggles she has gone through so far in her life.
She went on to say that she has a gender identity therapist that she has been seeing and that she doesn't think she identifies with someone who is nonbinary, which is why she doesn't want the pronouns "they/them" used when referencing her.
She also admitted to her lack of knowledge on the terms and labels that the LGBTQ+ community uses.
Although it is easy to dislike her and chalk it all up to her looking for attention, there are a few things to keep in mind. Everyone struggles with personal things all the time. Just because she took to the internet to express her struggles and feelings doesn't mean she is out looking for views.
She has always used YouTube as her platform to share her personal thoughts and opinions, and this isn't any different. She is very clearly struggling with her gender identity. No one has the right to question someone's personal journey of self-discovery, especially when it is something so personal like gender identity.
So, before you solidify your opinions about Trisha, take a moment to put yourself in her shoes.
Can you imagine if you were finally facing something that has been eating away at you from the inside, gaining the courage to finally tell the people you consider friends and family, only for them to laugh in your face and tell you that you are only saying those things for attention?
That's not what the LGBTQ+ that I have come to know and love is about. So, just give her the support she so very clearly needs right now instead of dragging her down.
