Nova Dunne
Age 1417 May 2023
Manchester, New Hampshire (USA)
Suicide
Nova died by suicide.
A 14-year-old transgender youth left his school, walked down Huse Road to the overpass over busy Interstate 293, climbed the 6' chain-link fence installed by the New Hampshire Department of Transportation to prevent people falling off the older bridge and its low guard rails, and lept into eastbound traffic.
A spokesperson for the Rainbow Youth Project confirmed in a phone call Monday that Nova Dunn, a student at Southside Middle School, died by suicide. The New Hampshire State Police while not commenting, citing an ongoing investigation, confirmed the incident and the resulting “hours-long traffic jam at the location” just east of the Mall of New Hampshire.
A friend of the family, Stacey Greenberg, wrote in the GoFundMe post to raise the funds to defray the cost of the funeral:
“Hello, this is Stacey a friend of Melissa and Mom to one of Nova’s close friends. No one should have to outlive their child, but Melissa has now experienced this twice. On Wednesday afternoon, 14-year-old Nova left this earth and found the peace and acceptance he was searching for.”
Multiple sources alleged that bullying and transphobia factored into the death of the teen, although the Washington Blade has been unable to verify any of those claims.
In the past few months there has been considerable attention focused on trans youth nationally, particularly around school policies regarding trans youth health care and gender identity. Last month, New Hampshire Public Radio reported that the New Hampshire Supreme Court heard arguments in a case brought by a Manchester parent challenging school policies around trans and nonbinary students.
https://www.washingtonblade.com/2023/05/22/transgender-youth-dies-by-suicide-in-n-h/
