Hostile Political Climate Worsening the Mental Health of LGBTQ Youth, Survey Finds

LGBTQ youth are already grappling with a mental health crisis. And according to the latest annual survey by The Trevor Project, the current political climate is taking a toll on their mental health, CBS News reports.

While The Trevor Project has been conducting annual surveys for the past five years, this is the first time in such a “hostile political climate when anti-LGBTQ legislation is at an all-time high this year,” said Ronita Nath, vice president of research for The Trevor Project.

The Trevor Project surveyed 28,524 LGBTQ U.S. young people between the ages of 13 to 24, 85% of whom said they paid attention to media reports about LGBTQ rights.

Nearly 1 in 3 LGBTQ young people reported that their mental health was poor most of the time – or all the time – due to the wave of anti-LGBTQ policies and legislation being passed in states across the country. In addition, nearly 2 in 3 LGBTQ youth said that “hearing about potential state or local laws banning people from discussing LGBTQ people at school (also known as ‘Don’t Say Gay’) made their mental health a lot worse.”

Across the country, there are currently 469 anti-LGBTQ bills in state legislatures, according to a digital tracker maintained by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). More bills targeting the LGBTQ community are moving through the legislative pipeline in states like Texas, Florida, Tennessee, and Mississippi. LGBTQ young people are taking notice. According to Nath, this wave of anti-LGBTQ legislation is having taking “a detrimental toll on their mental health,” forcing young people to be involved in “debates about their existence they don’t want to be involved in the first place.”

The climate is even harsher and the stakes even higher for trans youth. In 2023 so far, 528 anti-trans bills have been introduced across the nation, according to the Trans Legislation Tracker, and 50 of those bills have passed. Montana just became one of at least 15 states to ban or restrict gender-affirming medical care for trans youth.

The Trevor Project survey found that nearly half of trans youth considered suicide this year. A  small percentage of transgender and nonbinary young people receive gender-affirming medical care, but nearly two out of three were anxious about losing access to this care.

Vic Gipson, a support specialist with the nonprofit group Stand With Trans, said, “Right now, youth need legislators to stand with them, not against them.”

Nineteen-year-old Javier Gomez, a queer activist from Miami, said that living in Florida, where lawmakers are attempting to pass several anti-LGBTQ laws had taken a toll on his mental health. There were days when he and his peers felt “futile and hopeless.”

“We need to start listening and hearing how these bills are affecting us,” said Gomez.

Read the full CBS News article here.

 

Tabachnick, Cara. “Mental health of LGBTQ youth worsening in current ‘hostile political climate,’ survey finds.” CBS News.com, 1 May 2023, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trevor-project-mental-health-lgbtq-youth-worsening-in-hostile-political-climate/.