LGBTQ+ Youth Need Your Help

 

LGBTQ+ Youth Need Your Help

   

                            Image of people protesting for action during the AIDS crisis, CNN

Throughout the decades, there has been an ongoing issue of poor representation of the LGBTQ+ community in the world. This misrepresentation of this group always starts in either the media or in families. This has been a prominent issue since the 80’s with the AIDS crisis, where HIV/AIDS was labelled as a “gay disease”, adding an insurmountable amount of fuel to the fire of homophobia raging around the world.

            Since the 80’s we’ve seen representation of LGBTQ+ people only get marginally better. Some shows, such as Netflix’s “Heartstopper”, a coming-of-age series based on the comic books of the same name, or “RuPaul’s Drag Race”, which has been highlighting the stories of drag queens for over 13 years, have been shining positivity on the community in recent years, but even with the positive intent, these and others similar, often come under fire for misrepresenting the LGBTQ+ community. These programs often get attacked for sharing something that is “unnatural”, promoting “groomers”, and the most often attack they get is for “promoting this lifestyle to children”.

            While we can never stop the online trolls from spreading hate, it’s comments like that which circulate through families and continue the stigma against being LGBT. You may be wondering, why are comments like this so harmful? Why can’t people voice their opinions on the community? It’s because when we see how these troll comments manifest in the world, it’s in hearthbreaking ways. Most specifically, we see it in the increasing rates of mental health issues, substance abuse, and suicide in the LGBTQ+ community, especially those who grow up in unaccepting families.

The suicide rates of LGBTQ+ youth are quite shocking to see. According to an article from the Trevor Project, they mention scary statistics, such as the facts that “LGBTQ youth are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide than their peers” and “Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people aged 10 to 24 — and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning youth are at significantly increased risk”. They also include their own research, sharing their estimate that over 1.8 million LGBTQ youth have serious considerations of suicide each year, just in the US, meaning at least one person would attempt suicide every 45 seconds.

            While these statistics are bad enough, they get even worse considering what they may look like in an unaccepting family. In an article from the Human Rights Campaign, they talk about statistics related to family acceptance, including the facts that “…family rejection increases the odds of substance misuse and suicide attempts in transgender and gender non-conforming people”. On the other side, they also state that, “…LGBTQ youth whose families affirm their gender identity and sexual orientation are almost 50 percent less likely to make a suicide attempt compared to those whose families are unsupportive”.

            It’s already a huge challenge for LGBTQ+ people to come out, mainly because of the fear of not being accepted by those closest to them. In a Brightside Health blog, Dr. Marie Atallah states, “Members of the LGBTQI+ community are often tasked with constantly appraising their situation and adapting to how much they can safely reveal of themselves. While this can be seen as an adaptive process, it places a great deal of mental and emotional strain on the individual”. This mental and emotional strain is part of the reason that researchers at the University of Montreal have stated, “Coming out is no longer a matter of popular debate but a matter of public health”. The reason it’s claimed to be “a matter of public health” is more than just because of the stigma behind being LGBTQ – it’s because of everything I talked about above with the statistics from the Trevor Project and the Human Rights Campaign.

            When looking at the members of your own family, keep these numbers in mind. If anyone in your family comes out as LGBTQ+, remember to show your support for them, no matter what your opinion on the community may be. It’s always a better choice to be a supporter of your family rather than watch them become just another statistic in an article.