Young people who are LGBTQ+ are more likely to attempt suicide not because of their sexuality, but the hatred and discrimination they deal with.
I am not a professional writer. My degree is in substance abuse counseling, not writing. I want to provide you with that caveat so you can suspend judgment on my writing and grammar and instead focus your attention on what Im saying, not how I’m saying it.
The Trevor Project is an annual national survey of LGBTQ+ youth. According to the website:
The Trevor Project’s 2023 U.S. National Survey on the Mental Health of LGBTQ Young People amplifies the experiences of more than 28,000 LGBTQ young people ages 13 to 24 across the United States. This survey gives a voice to LGBTQ young people — at a time when their existence is unfairly at the center of national political debates and state legislatures have introduced and implemented a record number of anti-LGBTQ policies.
For the fifth consecutive year, these data underscore that anti-LGBTQ victimization contributes to the higher rates of suicide risk reported by LGBTQ young people and that most who want mental health care are unable to get it.
LGBTQ+ Youth
As I said, I’m not a professional writer. I have to thank The Trevor Project for providing graphics that provide the data and the facts better than I could ever articulate them. Before we get into the data, I should probably address the headline. None of you took it literally (I hope), because that is obviously not my intention.
When I say the Right is killing LGBTQ+ youth, I am speaking about the pundits online, in podcasts, and Conservative media like Fox News, as well as legislatures that are churning out anti-LGBTQ+ bills like they are combatting something dangerous. They aren’t. The only reason for these bills is to provide a distraction and a focal point for the fear and hatred they conjure up in their viewers. This isn’t anything new. The Right has manufactured culture wars for as long as I can remember. They have no policy to present as a way of winning over voters. Instead they use fear and anger as a catalyst to get people to vote for Republicans.
The depressing part of all of their games is that they’re having real consequences on young people in America. Even more depressing: They don’t care. There are people online who are paid millions to drum up fear and hatred of certain protected classes in this country. Whether it’s immigrants, black and brown people, or the LGBTQ+ community, they use already vulnerable groups to further their agenda regardless of the real world consequences they cause.
The Trevor Project 2023 National Survey results
Here is the part where I let the graphics do the talking for me:
I hope you find these numbers as disturbing as I do. Please share this post to raise awareness to what the Right is doing to our children.
