Mental health conditions are rising at a scary rate. According to Mental Health, in America there have been 1.5 million new reports of people suffering from mental conditions in the past year. This is in the U.S. alone. Studies have shown that the LGBTQ+ community suffer the most from mental conditions. Most believe it is because of the homophobia around them. It is in our school, it’s all around us.
The Trevor Project is devoted to helping the youth within the community. According to them, 73% of LGBTQ+ youth have recurring anxiety symptoms. That is 13,870 students in Missouri. Approximately 58% of the LGBTQ+ youth have recurring depression symptoms. That is 11,020 students in Missouri. Approximately 45% of the LGBTQ+ youth have seriously considered suicide and 14% actually tried. That is 8,550 that thought about ending their life, and 2,660 that tried. LGBT-Youth-US
Having family and friends who support you is something that can completely change how homophobia affects you. A source that wished to stay anonymous is open about her sexuality and has identified as a lesbian. She said, “school gets stressful and frustrating,” when asked if homophobia affects her. Anonymous stated that it is especially hard when the teachers are also homophobic because you know they won’t do anything about it. “They don’t believe that you should have rights.” She also said that she has family and friends who support and love her which has made it easier.
Natalie Page is out as a transgender lesbian woman. Being out as a lesbian is already a hard thing to do, but she also is out as transgender which takes a lot of courage. Page was asked if homophobia has affected her in a negative way in which she replied, “As a resident gay person I can say yes it has.” She said she has struggled with anxiety. “I don’t like feeling like I’m wrong for being me.”
Page also has the stress of dealing with transphobia. “Transphobia has made it so that it is difficult for me to get medicine that helps with dysphoria. A lot of dysphoria can lead to mental health problems, and having to travel 2 hours and 30 minutes to get to a place that will even consider giving me treatment causes a lot of stress. There are laws in place that explicitly make getting treatment difficult, and having to fight a system that doesn’t want me to exist causes lots of anxiety.”
Another anonymous lesbian said her mental health has been affected by homophobia. “I had to go to a mental hospital, due to homophobia along with other things, but while in the hospital I only met three kids who weren’t apart of the LGBTQ+ community.”
She said there were around 20 kids there while she was there. She said she has struggled with depression, anxiety, self harm, etc. “People all around me tell me I’m wrong for who I love, but it’s not something I can change. I feel like I’m wrong for being gay. That is what I feel most pushed me to not want to live anymore. I am doing better, so I don’t feel that way anymore. Don’t get me wrong, homophobia still affects my mental health, but I stopped being friends with people who didn’t accept me for who I am and that made a huge difference.”
“There have been many times that people at this school have been homophobic even if they didn’t know that they were, but it still hurts. It’s still hard to cope with,” an anonymous source said.
