What we know about the well-being of LGBTQ Americans and support for their rights
Photo by Brielle French on Unsplash
What we know about the well-being of LGBTQ Americans and support for their rights
by ALYSON CLARY | Jan. 19, 2021
Content warning: Discussion of rates of suicide and self-harm among LGBTQ youth and young adults
President-elect Biden has stated that signing the Equality Act into law is a top priority during his first 100 days in office.
The House passed the Equality Act, which would expand existing civil rights laws to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, with bipartisan support in 2019, but its progress stalled when it reached the Senate. Now that the Democrats have control of the Senate, it may be easier for the Equality Act to reach Biden’s desk after he is inaugurated on January 20, 2021.
Refer to the glossary at the bottom of the page for definitions of LGBTQ, cisgender, nonbinary, and transgender.
In this transitional moment between presidential administrations, what does recent opinion survey data say about the state of public support for LGBTQ rights and, most importantly, the lived experience of LGBTQ Americans?
“The LGBTQ rights movement has made remarkable progress over the last decade, but unique challenges persist, including disproportionate rates of LGBTQ-based discrimination and violence, and severe disparities in unemployment, homelessness, and suicide risk—particularly among those who are BIPOC and/or transgender or nonbinary.”
Last July, The Trevor Project, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention to LGBTQ young people, released the results of their second National LGBTQ Youth Mental Health Survey, given to over 40,000 LGBTQ youth age 13-24. According to the results, 86% of LGBTQ youth and young adults in the country felt that recent politics negatively impacted their well-being. Moreover, 60% of LGBTQ youth and young adults reported experiencing discrimination on account of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Politics and discrimination appear to be contributing to some troubling mental health issues for LGBTQ youth and young adults. Forty percent of LGBTQ youth and young adults reported seriously considering suicide in the preceding 12 months. And that number rises above 50% for transgender and nonbinary youth and young adults. Even more LGBTQ youth and young adults reported engaging in self-harm in the past year (48% of LGBTQ young people in general and more than 60% of transgender and nonbinary young people in particular).
While these data are cause for serious concern, there are also signs of hope.
Support for LGBTQ rights is at an all-time high among the American public. Just weeks before the general election, the Public Religion Research Institute released the results of their 2020 American Values Survey, which showed 70% percent of all American adults support same-sex marriage and 83% support LGBTQ nondiscrimination laws. Furthermore, majorities among 8 of 9 religious groups measured by the survey, all but White evangelical Protestants, support same-sex marriage. And while only 34% of that group support same-sex marriage, a strong majority, 59% of White evangelical Protestants, support LGBTQ nondiscrimination laws.
These numbers reveal a notable increase in support from 2015, the year the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage throughout the country in their Obergefell v. Hodges decision. At the time, a smaller majority of 53% of all American adults supported same-sex marriage and 71% supported LGBTQ nondiscrimination laws. That means, in the intervening five years, support for same-sex marriage among the American public has increased over 15 percentage points and support for nondiscrimination laws has increased over 10 percentage points.
Similarly, the Gallup Poll shows a 9 percentage-point increase in the public’s acceptance of same-sex marriage over the past 5 years—and an increase of 40 percentage points since they started measuring it in 1996.
How has this shift in attitudes impacted public policy? Less than 20 years ago, 67% of Nevadans had voted in favor of amending their constitution to effectively ban same-sex marriage. This past November, 62% of Nevadans voted in favor of the proposed, “Marriage Regardless of Gender Amendment,” making Nevada the first state to protect same-sex marriage in their constitution.
This growing acceptance and support of the LGBTQ community throughout the country appears to be helping LGBTQ youth too. Seventy-six percent of LGBTQ youth and young adults report having access to an LGBTQ-affirming space—such as school, home, work, or community events. When I reached out to The Trevor Project’s Vice President for Research, Dr. Amy Green, she noted that, “LGBTQ youth who reported having at least one LGBTQ-affirming space had 35% reduced odds of reporting a suicide attempt in the past year, the strongest association being with LGBTQ-affirming schools.”
In terms of Federal policies, Green is hopeful the Biden administration will implement, “LGBTQ-inclusive policies, programs, and practices—including access to LGBTQ-competent mental health care, and protections from the dangerous practice of conversion therapy and from discrimination in health care, athletics, bathrooms, and public accommodations.”
Among the many changes facing the nation with this month’s transition of presidential power is a likely shift in federal policies toward the LGBTQ community. According to recent surveys of adults, the public will be largely supportive of these changes. According to recent surveys among LGBTQ youth, this shift has the potential to measurably improve their well-being.
-Alyson
If you are thinking about suicide and in need of immediate support from a trained counselor, contact The Trevor Project’s TrevorLifeline at 1-866-488-7386, go to their online chat feature or text "START" to 678-678. All resources are available 24/7.
If you, or someone you know, is thinking about suicide and you need additional resources, trained counselors are available 24/7 at the following:
CRISIS TEXT LINE: Text the word “HOME” to 741741
U.S. NATIONAL SUICIDE PREVENTION LIFELINE: Call 800-273-8255 (TALK)
GLOSSARY
LGBTQ: An acronym that stands for “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning.” Generally, the term is read as inclusive of other, unnamed, sexual and gender identities—such as asexual, intersex, pansexual, two-spirit. Increasingly you may see use of the acronym LGBTQ+, LGBTQ2IA+ or additional variations that emphasize the inclusion of those other identities.
Cisgender: A person whose gender identity aligns with the sex they were assigned at birth.
Nonbinary: A person who does not identify exclusively as a man or a woman. Non-binary people may identify as being both a man and a woman, somewhere in between, or as falling outside of binary gender categories. While non-binary is considered a trans identity, not everyone who is non-binary considers themselves trans.
Transgender: A person whose gender identity does not (exclusively) align with the one they were assigned at birth.
These definitions are taken in full or in part from the following resources: Human Rights Campaign, NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists, and Trans Journalists Association.