Last year, nearly half of LGBTQ+ youth seriously considered suicide, including more than half of trans youth, according to new data from The Trevor Project.
These figures reveal a deadly, mental-health crisis among high school and college-age LGTBQ+ youth of all races, which has been worsened by the Covid-19 pandemic and by recent, political attacks on LGTBQ+ students by state legislators across the nation.
The Trevor Project data shows how things have gone from bad to worse for LGBTQ+ youth in the past two years. In 2019, 40 percent of LGTBQ+ seriously considered suicide; in 2021, the rate hit 45 percent.
And it’s even scarier among students of color. About one in five Black LGBTQ+ students attempted suicide last year, as did a slightly higher rate of Indigenous LGBTQ+ students.
Meanwhile, mental health care is scarce. Nearly half of LGBTQ+ youth — and more than half of Latino LGBTQ+ students — told the Trevor Project that they wanted counseling and didn’t get it.
Making matters worse for LGBTQ students, nearly 240 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been filed this year in state legislatures, most of them targeting trans people, according to an NBC News analysis.
Many of these bills have been signed into laws that ban trans women and girls from participating in high school sports, prohibit trans students from using school bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity, and restrict LGBTQ-positive school curriculum.
Read more at NEA.org.
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