Kentucky State Senator Karen Berg (D-Louisville), the only Jewish member of the Kentucky State Senate, announced on Tuesday that her son, Henry Berg-Brousseau, 24, died by suicide last Friday.
WLKY News quoted Berg’s statement: “Henry spent his life working to extend grace, compassion, and understanding to everyone, but especially to the vulnerable and marginalized. This grace, compassion and understanding were not always returned to him.”
An outspoken supporter of transgender and abortion rights, Berg said her son suffered from mental illness––not because he was transgender. She blamed “hateful and vile anti-trans messaging being circulated around this country and at his workplace” for her son’s suicide.
“The vitriol against trans people is not happening in a vacuum,” the senator said. “It is not just a way of scoring political points by exacerbating the culture wars. It has real-world implications for how transgender people view their place in the world and how they are treated as they just try to live their lives.”
Senator Berg is a physician and works as an assistant professor in the Department of Radiology at the University of Louisville.
