The election could push LGBTQ+ mental health to the edge. Queer activists are fighting for a lifeline.

Anti-trans legislation sweeping the country is proving deadly. 

A recent study determined that such laws increased suicide attempts among transgender and nonbinary youth by as much as 72%. And that’s just one instance of how LGBTQ+ mental health is on the ballot this election. 

Studies overwhelmingly show that queer people are disproportionately likely to experience depression, anxiety, and suicidal ideation or to engage in self-harming behaviors, particularly LGBTQ+ youth. According to the Trevor Project, 41% of queer youth considered taking their own lives within the past year, and an estimated 60% say they were not able to access treatment to care for their psychological and emotional well-being when they needed it. These grave disparities became a topic of national conversation earlier this year after Nex Benedict, a nonbinary Indigenous teen, died one day after being attacked in an Oklahoma high school bathroom. Police say that Benedict took their own life, but family members are pursuing an independent investigation.

The mental health of LGBTQ+ youth and adults is likely to be profoundly affected by the outcome of the 2024 presidential race: If elected to the White House in November, former President Donald Trump has pledged to take federal action preventing trans youth from accessing gender-affirming care. His running mate, JD Vance, has called to incarcerate doctors who offer gender-affirming care to young people. 

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With the election just weeks away, existing data shows that LGBTQ+ Americans, and especially young people, are acutely aware of the potential fallout of a Trump reelection. The vast majority of trans and nonbinary youth (86%) told the Trevor Project that “recent debates around anti-trans bills have negatively impacted their mental health,” per 2023 data from the national youth suicide organization. 

LGBTQ+ Americans, and especially young people, are acutely aware of the potential fallout of a Trump reelection.

Hope Giselle, executive director of the National Trans Visibility March, says that she is personally “terrified” about what may be coming next, like many members of the LGBTQ+ community. She wants to believe that voters are “going to do the right thing” but referenced the landmark work of trans pioneers like Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, who were discarded by the mainstream LGBTQ+ movement in the 1970s and 80s as activists pursued a path of assimilationism.

“I want to believe that I should have good faith in folks, but I have seen the way that’s played out for me in the past,” she told LGBTQ Nation. “I’ve seen the way that’s played out for folks that I love. My sisters were at the forefront of this movement and set things up for communities that turned around and booed them at their own rally. Those things can repeat themselves.”

Related:

Red state residents worry about a “nightmare” Trump presidency

Red state residents say “the stakes could not be higher,” with ramifications including trans health care, gender markers, and LGBTQ+ school safety.

As the LGBTQ+ community nervously braces for an uncertain future, elected leaders are stressing the importance of prioritizing queer mental health as a political issue and raising increased visibility regarding the struggles that some community members are facing. At the federal level, a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives is pushing the PEER Mental Health Act, which would create grant programs to assist schools in addressing the mental health needs of students. The bill’s lead sponsor, Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT), also introduced the MEND Act, which would provide mental health assistance to local communities following natural disasters, such as those in the Appalachian mountains and Gulf Coast amid the ongoing destruction from Hurricane Helene.

Although the bills don’t specifically name the LGBTQ+ community as an area of focus, Balint says that queer people “get hardest hit” in times of crisis because so many are already living on the margins. LGBTQ+ people are more than twice as likely as the general population to experience homelessness in their lifetimes and also face higher rates of poverty and unemployment. 

Even in a progressive state like Vermont, which she has represented in Congress since 2022, Balint often hears from LGBTQ+ youth in rural areas who are struggling without affirming resources. “It might be easier to be queer or trans in New York or San Francisco,” Balint said that young queer people often tell her, “but in my little town, even in Vermont, I don’t feel supported.”

“It’s so important to me because I was one of those young queer people who knew at a young age that I was gay and felt completely and totally out of sorts,” Balint told LGBTQ Nation. “I have struggled with anxiety and depression my whole life. I want to do everything that I can as an elected official, not just to pass a policy that will help young queer and trans people across the country but also to be a role model by talking about [mental health].”

Mental health and the fight for equality

While addressing the myriad and multifaceted mental health challenges queer people face will take nationwide engagement, LGBTQ+ officials say the cost of not addressing the community’s needs is too high. Minnesota state representative Brion Curran (D) knows this first-hand: They began to experience severe PTSD while training as a deputy police officer and ultimately left their profession because they were afraid of “becoming a statistic.” Now that they are in a better place, Curran is vocal about their struggles to help dispel the silence and shame that remains pervasive around the subject. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, around 60% of adults who experience mental health issues do not seek treatment, largely due to stigma.

“I’m really open and vocal about people just seeking resources or asking for that support,” Curran told LGBTQ Nation. “That’s not a weakness. To state what your needs are and go after them, that’s a strength. I’m fortunate that I was able to access the resources I need, and I also know that not everybody has those resources.”

Pro-LGBTQ+ legislation, at its core, is mental health legislation.

As an elected official, Curran has sponsored efforts to train therapists to provide appropriate care to first responders and says that the state is working on decreasing burdensome regulations that may prevent people from getting the treatment they need. But they have also been heartened to see the state embrace its role as a safe haven for LGBTQ+ people by passing a law in 2023 declaring Minnesota a refuge for trans youth health care. Curran says that pro-LGBTQ+ legislation, at its core, is mental health legislation because it “encourages positive mental health outcomes for people” who may not have that support from their home states.

Although anecdotal reports from the LGBTQ+ Victory Institute, an organization fighting for increased queer political representation, warned that the mental health of LGBTQ+ electeds could be negatively impacted from constantly fighting on the front lines of equality, Curran maintains that “it’s important to talk about the struggles of specific communities.” 

“It’s important to have people with lived experience at the table where decisions are made,” Curran said. “It’s easy for some issues to get overlooked when there’s not a person in the room directly dealing with that issue. In politics, oftentimes, some of these healthcare issues don’t seem really flashy. They might get lost in the mix, and so it’s important that we have people like me with these life experiences in the room so that we can say, ‘Hey, we can’t forget about this.’ ”

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