Letter to the Editor:
Supporting the LGBTQ+ Community Protects Children
With the onslaught of legislation over the past couple of years targeting LGBTQ+ youth, particularly transgender children and teens, an argument from many of the politicians leading these efforts is that providing gender-affirming care to children is child abuse.
Even though medical providers overwhelmingly agree that children should have access to gender-affirming care, including the American Association of Pediatrics and the American Medical Association, anti-trans legislators continue to strip essential medical care from America’s LGBTQ+ youth. This year alone, more than 70 of the 168 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced across the country have been signed into law, with serious repercussions for the health, safety, and wellness of LGBTQ+ children, teens, and young adults.
LGBTQ+ youth are significantly more likely to face violence, harassment, and bullying than their straight and cisgender peers, and the increasingly aggressive anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric in this country only exacerbates this violence. 23% of lesbian, gay, and bisexual teens report being bullied at school, and 27% report being cyber bullied. Comparatively, only 7% of straight teens report being bullied in school and 13% online.
These numbers are alarming; laws claiming to protect LGBTQ+ children are in fact putting them in danger. According to The Trevor Project, almost a third of transgender and nonbinary youth say that legislation targeting the LGBTQ+ community has worsened their mental health. Almost half say they seriously considered suicide over the past year.
LGBTQ+ youth are not only at increased risk in public spaces, but in the home as well. 20% of LGBTQ+ students reported being physically abused by an adult in the home during the pandemic, as compared to 10% of straight students. LGBTQ+ children and teens are disproportionately represented in child welfare systems, even though the number of LGBTQ+ youth in the system is likely underreported.
Research shows that when LGBTQ+ youth are affirmed in their identities through practices and policies, their mental health and wellbeing improve. For example, when LGBTQ+ children and teens have a supportive school environment, they do better academically, socially, and emotionally.
Conversely, bullying and harassment increase the risk of mental health issues, suicidal ideation, drug and alcohol misuse, and sexual violence. When schools implement policies that support and protect LGBTQ+ youth, students experience less violence and harassment and experience fewer mental health issues like suicidal ideation.
By affirming LGBTQ+ identities and passing laws in support of the safety and wellbeing of LGBTQ+ people, LGBTQ+ children and youth are better protected. Anti-LGBTQ+ laws and rhetoric actively harm children in the community, and anyone who cares about the wellbeing of children and youth should oppose this hateful and discriminatory legislation.
Michele Grupe
Executive Director