Skip to content Skip to search

Republish This Story

* Please read before republishing *

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Creative Commons license as long as you follow our republishing guidelines, which require that you credit The 19th and retain our pixel. See our full guidelines for more information.

To republish, simply copy the HTML at right, which includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to The 19th. Have questions? Please email [email protected].

— The Editors

Loading...

Modal Gallery

/
Sign up for our newsletter

Menu

  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Search
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships
    • From the Collection

      Changing Child Care

      Illustration of a woman feeding a baby a bottle
      • 1 in 4 parents report being fired for work interruptions due to child care breakdowns

        Chabeli Carrazana · February 2
      • Washington, D.C., offers financial relief to local child care workers

        Orion Rummler · September 20
      • As climate change worsens hurricane season in Louisiana, doulas are ensuring parents can safely feed their babies

        Jessica Kutz · May 5
    • From the Collection

      Next-Gen GOP

      Illustration of a woman riding an elephant
      • Mayra Flores’ victory set a record for women in Congress. It also reflects the growing visibility of Republican Latinas

        Candice Norwood · June 21
      • A banner year for Republican women

        Amanda Becker · November 11
      • Republican women could double representation in the U.S. House

        Amanda Becker · November 4
    • From the Collection

      On The Rise

      Illustration of three women marching
      • Can Cheri Beasley build a winning coalition in North Carolina?

        Candice Norwood · October 11
      • Los Angeles has never elected a woman mayor. Karen Bass hopes to change that.

        Nadra Nittle · September 8
      • Judge J. Michelle Childs is confirmed to D.C. appeals court

        Candice Norwood · July 20
    • From the Collection

      Pandemic Within a Pandemic

      Illustration of four people marching for Black Lives Matter with coronavirus as the backdrop
      • Some LGBTQ+ people worry that the COVID-19 vaccine will affect HIV medication. It won’t.

        Orion Rummler · November 23
      • Why are more men dying from COVID? It’s a complicated story of nature vs. nurture, researchers say

        Mariel Padilla · September 22
      • Few incarcerated women were released during COVID. The ones who remain have struggled.

        Candice Norwood · August 17
    • From the Collection

      Portraits of a Pandemic

      Illustration of a woman wearing a mask and holding up the coronavirus
      • For family caregivers, COVID is a mental health crisis in the making

        Shefali Luthra · October 8
      • A new database tracks COVID-19’s effects on sex and gender

        Shefali Luthra · September 15
      • Pregnant in a pandemic: The 'perfect storm for a crisis'

        Shefali Luthra · August 25
    • From the Collection

      The 19th Explains

      People walking from many articles to one article where they can get the context they need on an issue.
      • The 19th Explains: What we know about Brittney Griner’s case and what it took to get her home

        Candice Norwood, Katherine Gilyard · December 8
      • The 19th Explains: Why the Respect for Marriage Act doesn’t codify same-sex marriage rights

        Kate Sosin · December 8
      • The 19th Explains: Why baby formula is still hard to find months after the shortage

        Mariel Padilla · December 1
    • From the Collection

      The Electability Myth

      Illustration of three women speaking at podiums
      • Mayra Flores’ victory set a record for women in Congress. It also reflects the growing visibility of Republican Latinas

        Candice Norwood · June 21
      • Stepping in after tragedy: How political wives became widow lawmakers

        Mariel Padilla · May 24
      • Do term limits help women candidates? New York could be a new testing ground

        Barbara Rodriguez · January 11
    • From the Collection

      The Impact of Aging

      A number of older people walking down a path of information.
      • From ballroom dancing to bloodshed, the older AAPI community grapples with gun control

        Nadra Nittle, Mariel Padilla · January 27
      • 'I'm planning on working until the day I die': Older women voters are worried about the future

        Mariel Padilla · June 3
      • Climate change is forcing care workers to act as first responders

        Jessica Kutz · May 31
    • From the Collection

      Voting Rights

      A series of hands reaching for ballots.
      • Election workers believe in our system — and want everyone else to, too

        Barbara Rodriguez, Jennifer Gerson · November 8
      • Voter ID laws stand between transgender people, women and the ballot box

        Barbara Rodriguez · October 14
      • Emily’s List expands focus on diverse candidates and voting rights ahead of midterm elections

        Errin Haines · August 30

    View all collections

  • Explore by Topic

    • 19th Polling
    • Abortion
    • Business & Economy
    • Caregiving
    • Coronavirus
    • Education
    • Election 2020
    • Election 2022
    • Environment & Climate
    • Health
    • Immigration
    • Inside The 19th
    • Justice
    • LGBTQ+
    • Politics
    • Press Release
    • Race
    • Sports
    • Technology

    View All Topics

Home
  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Search
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships

We’re an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy. Read our story.

The 19th News(letter)

News from reporters who represent you and your communities.

You have been subscribed!

Submitting...

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please try again later.

Become a member

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

Teen woman with headache holding her head in her living room during the day
(Getty Images)

LGBTQ+

Study: 42 percent of LGBTQ+ youth report suicidal thoughts during the pandemic

The past year has presented unprecedented challenges for LGBTQ+ people, queer youth in particular, advocates say.

Kate Sosin

LGBTQ+ reporter

Kate Sosin portrait

Published

2021-05-19 08:00
8:00
May 19, 2021
am

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

If you or a loved one are in crisis, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 74174.

Over the past year, 42 percent of LGBTQ+ youth seriously considered suicide and 94 percent said recent politics negatively impacted their mental health, according to a new report from the Trevor Project. 

The third annual report from the Trevor Project, which runs a suicide hotline for LGBTQ+ youth, tracks the mental health for queer youth ages 13 to 24. 

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

The numbers are what Amit Paley, the organization’s executive editor, expected. Still, they shocked him. 

“The impact that COVID-19 had on the mental health of LGBTQ young people was profound,” Paley said. “Almost every LGBTQ young person in our sample said that their mental health was negatively impacted by politics.” 

The data draws from online surveys of nearly 35,000 youth conducted between October and December 2020.

The past year has presented unprecedented challenges for LGBTQ+ people, queer youth in particular, advocates say. Paley, who staffs the Trevor Project hotline, says many kids have spent the pandemic cooped up in homes where their parents don’t support them, cut off from friends and activities that allow them to be themselves. According to the report, 60 percent of trans and nonbinary youth said that the pandemic impacted their ability to express their gender identity. Queer kids have also ingested the news that more than 30 states are weighing anti-LGBTQ+ bills, sending the message that they are unwelcome in their schools and communities, Paley added. 

Stories by experienced reporters you can trust and relate to.

Delivered directly to your inbox every weekday.

You have been subscribed!

Submitting…

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please try again later.

The flood of anti-LGBTQ+ bills from statehouses, nearly all targeting transgender youth, began circulating in 2020, but the pandemic halted them when statehouses closed. According to the Human Rights Campaign, 2021 has seen a record number of anti-LGBTQ+ bills passed.

“For lawmakers who identify themselves as pro-life and wanting to protect the lives of people, one of the most profound things they can do to help people and to save lives will be to stop pushing bills that put the lives of LGBTQ youth, and specifically trans youth, at risk and to instead put forward proposals that can affirm and support them,” Paley said. 

More than 80 percent of youth in the survey said that the pandemic had exacerbated the stress of their living situations, and 70 percent described their mental health as “poor” all or most of the time. That number shot up to 85 percent for transgender and nonbinary kids. Three quarters of the youth surveyed said they had personally experienced discrimination.

Nearly half (48 percent) of kids interviewed said they wanted mental health services but couldn’t get them. Just 16 percent of kids said they didn’t want mental health care at all. Many young people (13 percent) still report being subjected to conversion therapy, a psuedo-scientific mental health practice that claims to make people straight or cisgender. The practice remains legal in 26 states. 

The statistics for queer youth of color were even more jarring. While 12 percent of White queer youth reported attempting suicide over the last year, 31 percent of Native/Indigenous youth reported attempts. For Black youth that number was 21 percent, and Latinx kids reported attempts at 18 percent; 21 percent of multiracial youth made attempts, as did 12 percent of Asian American and Pacific Islander youth.

The organization notes that the trend is especially troubling amid reports that rates of suicide overall reportedly dipped in 2020 among the general population but spiked among people of color. 

Paley said the Trevor Project’s findings closely align with the experiences of hotline operators, and they track with surveys conducted over the last two years, though he noted the methodology has changed, so it’s hard to directly compare year-to-year. The pandemic, however, has exacerbated the struggles facing queer youth, he said. 

“Sometimes people ask, what, what is it about LGBTQ young people that causes them to be more likely to attempt suicide or have mental health issues, and it’s very important to make clear, LGBTQ people are not born more likely to attempt suicide or to face depression or anxiety,” Paley added. “It is that discrimination and stigmatization that causes people to feel alone, or feel mental health burdens.”

The solution, he said, is to create a world where young people feel seen and accepted for who they are. 

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

Help sustain what we started

Your monthly investment is critical to our sustainability as a nonprofit newsroom.

Donate Today

Become a member

Up Next

The outside of the Supreme Court.

Health

Supreme Court agrees to hear Mississippi challenge to Roe v. Wade

Justices are likely to rule next summer on whether a ban on abortions after 15 weeks is constitutional.

Read the Story

The 19th
The 19th is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Our stories are free to republish in accordance with these guidelines.

  • Donate
  • Newsletter
  • Events
  • Search
  • Jobs
  • Fellowships
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Community Guidelines
  • Membership
  • Membership FAQ
  • Major Gifts
  • Sponsorship
  • Privacy
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram