LGBTQ+ youth face many stresses: fear, isolation, bullying, feeling like the world hates you, people close to you pressuring you to change.
These realities are becoming clearer in the first release of findings from the Trevor Project's ongoing study tracking the mental health of about 1,700 young people in the United States over an extended period of time.
Researchers at a West Hollywood-based nonprofit noticed a sharp increase in mental health disorders among participants. Over the course of a year, the proportion of participants reporting anxiety symptoms increased from 57% to 68%.
As political rhetoric has simmered in the past couple of years around issues such as teaching about LGBTQ+ identities in schools, transgender student participation on sports teams and whether to allow gender-affirming care, the share of youth who said they had experienced symptoms of depression rose from 48% to 54%. The number of those reporting suicidal thoughts increased from 41% to 47%.
Transgender and nonbinary youth were nearly twice as likely to say they struggled with anxiety and suicidal thoughts than their cisgender peers—a pattern that continued through the first year of data collection for this group.
“This allows us to clearly and unequivocally document what we know to be true: the way LGBTQ+ youth are treated in this country is harming their health and risking their lives, and it is only getting worse,” Trevor Project CEO James Black said in a statement.
Even in California, a state considered a haven for transgender people, the climate appears to be changing. Gov. Gavin Newsom recently vetoed the bill, a surprising move for an elected official who has pledged support for the trans community. 12 months of hormone therapy coverage required for transgender patients in California, citing cost considerations.
Another striking finding from the study: an increase in the proportion of youth who said they had faced pressure to undergo “conversion therapy,” a controversial and scientifically dubious counseling process that its proponents say can suppress or erase same-sex desire, change the gender identity of youth who identify as transgender, and discourage those who ask questions.
National Alliance on Mental Illness calls for conversion therapy “discredited, discriminatory and harmful” and supports a ban on the practice, which she says can harm rather than improve the mental health of those subjected to it. California has become first state to ban the practice in 2012.
However, reports of conversion therapy threats doubled in the first year of tracking, with 22% of respondents saying they had experienced such intimidation, up from 11% at the start of the study. The percentage who said they had undergone conversion therapy in some way rose from 9% to 15%.
The findings came as the Supreme Court heard arguments in one of the most closely watched cases of its current term. IN Chiles vs. SalazarA Christian counselor claims Colorado's ban on conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ youth violates her free speech rights in voluntary interrogation therapy sessions with minors. Members of the court's conservative majority who won the ruling earlier this year upholding Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for minors, openly expressed skepticism about the Colorado ban at a hearing this week. The court's decision in the case is expected by the end of the hearing in June.
“Many people believe this is a relic of the past, but data shows these dangerous practices still occur,” said Dr. Ronita Nath, vice president of research at the Trevor Project. She added that the threat and exposure to conversion therapy contributed to future depression and suicidal ideation among study participants.
The researchers began recruiting participants in September 2023. Each participant completed mental health surveys every six months after joining the study.
The Trevor Project is the first time in such a long period to track changes in the mental health of gay youth. Nath said this kind of complex, long-term research is important for both public health providers and policymakers because it provides new evidence of a causal link between social risk factors (such as having to undergo conversion therapy and lack of access to affordable mental health services) and future crises.
“Social and structural conditions shape these mental health outcomes, rather than simply coincide with them,” Nath said.
The study found some positives: The percentage of LGBTQ+ youth who reported feeling supported at school increased from 53% to 58% during their first year. Additionally, 73% of participants said they turned to friends for help, up from 45% at the start of the first year.
However, many of those who took part in the study said they avoided seeking help either because they couldn't afford it or because they feared being stigmatized for having a mental health crisis.
Only 60% of respondents said they had access to mental health services by the end of the first year of the study, compared with 80% at the start of their tracking.
On the other hand, 75% of those who received counseling during the first year of the study said they benefited from it, up from 61% at the beginning.
However, the proportion of young people who said they sought help during suicidal episodes doubled during this period to 64%, indicating the increased levels of stress young people experience during this period, Nath said.
