How the Equality Act Protects Trans Youth—and What You Can Do to Support It | Goop
More broadly, what key issues do LGBTQ folks currently face in America, and what other laws, rulings, and policies are helping to break down these barriers?
The Trevor Project estimates that more than 1.8 million LGBTQ youth seriously consider suicide each year in the US and could benefit from our services. That’s why we’ve been working so hard to implement the 988 bill [signed into law last year] so that Americans can simply dial three digits to reach the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline in moments of mental health crisis, instead of the current ten-digit number. Shortening this number and expanding specialized services for high-risk populations like LGBTQ young people will work to save lives.
Through our advocacy work, we also strive to address risk factors for suicide, like conversion therapy. So-called conversion therapy is the discredited and dangerous practice of attempting to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity through psychological, spiritual, or medical interventions. I’m a survivor of conversion therapy and know firsthand how devastating it can be to your mental health and wellness. In our research, LGBTQ youth who had undergone conversion therapy were more than twice as likely to report having attempted suicide as those who had not.
The Trevor Project is working in all fifty states to protect LGBTQ youth from conversion therapy, and I’m proud to say we’ve helped pass protections in twenty states and more than eighty localities.
Another risk factor for suicide is housing instability, which LGBTQ young people face at disproportionate rates. Twenty-nine percent of LGBTQ youth reported experiencing homelessness, being kicked out, or running away. And our research has shown that those who experienced housing instability reported considering suicide at twice the rate and attempting suicide at more than three times the rate of LGBTQ youth who had not.
We were thankful to see the Biden administration commit to enforcing the Fair Housing Act to investigate cases of LGBTQ-based housing discrimination. But we also know that the housing issues LGBTQ youth face go beyond discrimination. We must expand programs and protections for LGBTQ young people who experience housing instability, especially those who are transgender or nonbinary, people of color, or living with HIV or AIDS.
