Idaho pushed anti-trans laws for years. Then a teen died.

The life and death of May Pollard, 16, provides a window into the tragic effect that legislation and political rhetoric have had on trans people in America.

BOISE, Idaho — After May Pollard died on a late-January morning, a detective asked her parents a question: Had anyone wanted to hurt her?

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“A lot of America,” her mother answered.

Less than an hour earlier, Elyse Thorpe had found her daughter’s body inside their home, called 911 and sobbed as she tried to revive her. May, an avid poet and gamer, had been struggling and increasingly withdrawn.