“Some people wear a button or put up a flag to show this.” Be politically engaged
“Make the fact that you are a supporter or ally known,” Zayde said. “This can include but isn’t limited to using a young person’s name and pronouns correctly, openly discussing LGBTQ issues, confronting anti-LGBTQ language or discrimination, and connecting youth with LGBTQ peers and mentors,” DeChants said.Įssentially, it should be clear to that young person that you are not ambivalent about supporting them and respecting them.
This might sound like an obvious suggestion, but health experts say it’s important to be very clear that you stand as an ally to the LGBTQIA+ young person in your life. Simple steps you can take to help LGBTQIA+ youthīoth DeChants and Zayde outlined actionable steps people can take to support LGBTQIA+ young people right now: Clearly stand as an ally to LGBTQIA+ youth The fact that so many have come up this year intensifies the message that LGBTQ youth are so wrong and bad that laws must be passed to silence and shame them.” “These bills are incredibly dehumanizing,” she said. Similarly, she singled out the “Don’t Say Gay” legislation that sends the message to youth that “their identities should be kept silent.”Īdditionally, calling into question “the right to gender affirming healthcare and using the bathroom violate the most basic human needs,” Zayde added. Zayde explained that these kinds of policies make these young people’s very bodies discussion points that are “called into question and labeled as wrong.” When trans youth are prevented from being on the teams that match their gender identity, they’re effectively banned from what could be an incredibly healthy coping mechanism to the stressors of daily life,” she said. “So many youth use sports and sports teams as a community-building activity that helps them feel included. “Individually, each of these bills creates its own level of harm, but together, LGBTQ youth are getting the message that they don’t have the right to exist and be happy,” Zayde told Healthline. These bills range from preventing transgender youth from participating in sports and banning discussion of LGBTQIA+ topics and issues in classrooms, to preventing gender affirming healthcare and even preventing young people from using bathrooms that correspond to their gender, she stressed. Heather Zayde, LCSW, a Brooklyn-based clinical social worker and psychotherapist, said that right now in the United States, 238 anti-LGBTQ bills have been filed in 2022 alone.
“It’s also worth noting that recent polling data found that 85 percent of transgender and nonbinary youth - and two-thirds of all LGBTQ youth, or 66 percent - say recent debates about anti-transgender laws have negatively impacted their mental health,” he said. “It’s important to emphasize that LGBTQ youth face stressors that their peers simply never have to worry about, such as anxiety around coming out and fears of being rejected or discriminated against based on their LGBTQ identity,” DeChants explained. This can all “compound and produce negative mental health outcomes,” he added. When compared with their non-LGBTQ peers, LGBTQ young people are “significantly more likely” to experience rejection, discrimination, violence, bullying, and harassment, DeChants explained. “LGBTQ young people often experience disproportionate mental health challenges because of how they are mistreated and stigmatized by society,” Jonah DeChants, PhD, research scientist for the nonprofit The Trevor Project, told Healthline. How the current national climate is affecting the health of LGBTQIA+ youth