Over two-thirds of LGBTQ youth said recent debates over state laws that target transgender people have negatively impacted their mental health, a new poll released Monday by the Trevor Project shows. 2021 saw a record number of anti-trans bills introduced in state legislatures — many specifically focused on trans youth — and experts already expect a similar wave of bills in 2022.
Just days into the 2022 legislative session, bills have been introduced in six states — Missouri, Indiana, Arizona, South Carolina, Kentucky, and South Dakota — that would “prohibit access to sports for trans and non-binary youth,” Casey Pick, senior fellow for advocacy and government affairs for the Trevor Project, told Axios.
In three other states — Alabama, Arizona, and Ohio — other pieces of legislation that have been filed “would ban doctors for providing best practice health care for trans and non-binary youth,” Pick added.
Anti-trans legislation was signed into law in Mississippi, Arkansas, and Tennessee.
Seven in 10 LGBTQ youth said they regularly follow news related to the issues that impact the trans community, and as a result:
- 66% of all LGBTQ young people polled said their mental health had been negatively affected by recent debates about state laws restricting the rights of transgender people.
- The impact is even greater among trans and non-binary youth: 85% of those polled — four in five of this group — said their mental health had been negatively affected.
Read more at Axios.com.
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