Reaching across the

gaps
Why we need to improve
supports for LGBTQ Youth

This Policy Brief will introduce the issue of Mental Health
issues in the LGBTQ community and make recommendations
of how to improve.

Breanna Taveras
3/20/2014

Did you know that about 85% of LGBTQ youth experience verbal harassment at school because
of their sexual orientation or who they identify as? Imagine how they feel. Just because they identify as
LGBTQ, they face daily struggles that any straight person doesnt. These struggles affect them in many
ways, mentally, physically, and emotionally. It makes them do things such as committing suicide,
experiencing bullying, family problems, and family rejection.
I believe this issue needs to be address immediately because there are lots of things wrong with
how the LGBTQ community is being treated. Its easy to think that if youre not a member of this
community theres not a reason to care. There is a reason to care. You never know if a family or friend is
going through this struggle. In addition, if you think its okay to discriminate against the LGBTQ
community and their struggles, then why cant we discriminate against people based on their race,
gender, looks, and religion? We have worked too hard to stop the discrimination against people of color.
So why cant we work together to help the LGBTQ community with their struggles, and better support?
If we allow the current situation to continue we will see more suicide cases, more survivor sex,
bullying, and mental health issues in general. These issues cause the city more money because they have
to provide more support to the LGBTQ community since they dont have specialized health care
providers. Its time we make a change to stop this situation.
There are many health issues the LGBTQ youth face. For example, people ages 15 to 54 with
some sex partners deal with higher rated of anxiety, mood and substance use disorders, and suicidal
thoughts. Also, studies of gay and lesbian youth have shown that LGBTQ youth are committing suicide at
a higher rate then heterosexual people. You see these issues in schools, where LGBTQ youth are
experiencing bullying, and a lack of support, also at home where family members discriminate because
of what their child identifies as. You also see this issue in shelters where a large number of people in the
LGBTQ community go for help when they are homeless or have got kicked out their home because of
their identity.


These issues are accruing because of several reasons. One reason is because of homophobia.
Lots of people are scared or hate people that are under the LGBTQ community umbrella. I believe this is
an issue because they say mean things, look at these people the wrong ways, and just dont like them
because who they identify as. I dont think this is acceptable because they are human just like us
0
10
20
30
40
50
Physical Fight
Physical Fight
0
5
10
15
20
Did not go to school because of
feeling unsafe
Did not go to school
because of feeling unsafe
heterosexual people. Another reason this is happening is because the lack of training of health care
providers, physicians and therapist get to deal with the LGBTQ community. I believe for these things to
get better, we need more training for these people. Also we need school to act more powerfully against
bullying policy and have consequences towards the kids that bully the LGBTQ youth.
Its time that we find a better alternative for the LGBTQ youth. I believe they should be able to
live like a heterosexual person; they should be able to walk around without getting called names, being
embarrassed or facing any type of discrimination. I believe that its necessary to find an alternative so
that the rates of anxiety disorder, mood disorder, also suicide cases will decrease.
This data from the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention looks at health risk
behaviors among students in grades 9-12 by sexual identity. The data shows information of students by
gender that have been involved in physical fights , forced to have sexual intercourse , planed suicide
attempts, been sad and hopeless, and didnt go to school because they felt unsafe. In every single piece
of data, we see that LGBTQ youth have the highest percentages in the survey. These numbers show us
that LGBTQ youth have greater issues in schools, they are less safe, suffer from mental health issues,
and attempt suicide more often than heterosexual youth. They also suffer from homelessness because
of problems with family.

Heterosexual
Gay or
Lesbian Bisexual
Not
Sure
Physical Fight 31.1 43.6 43.9 45.1
Forced to have Sexual Intercourse 6.4 31 32.1 22.5
Made Plan to Attempt Suicide 8.5 36.8 34 30.1
Seriously considered Suicide 10.9 35.3 46.1 40.4
Felt Sad or Hopeless 24.8 49.9 62.9 50.1
Did not go to school because of feeling
unsafe 4.3 18.4 11.2 19.3



0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Made Plan to Attempt Suicide
Made Plan to Attempt
Suicide
0
10
20
30
40
50
Seriously considered Suicide
Seriously considered
Suicide
This issue is important because it is impacting the LGBTQ youth and community, support groups,
government, mayor, president, family, friends, and jobs. It matters because we are wasting more money
paying for shelters where LGBTQ people have to stay because of family rejection, and who are then
getting kicked out of shelters because they are being harassed because they have to defend themselves.
It proves that LGBTQ youth have a higher rate of mental health issues. This tells us that we need more
resources to change these problems that are happening. This data shows that LGBTQ suffer from a
higher rate of mental health issues then heterosexual people. The data suggests that we need to put
more resources, and help into the LGBTQ youth. Specifically for youth with anxiety and family problems,
also that attempt suicide, or planned on attempting suicide, or have nowhere to live and are homeless.

0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Forced to have Sexual Intercourse
Forced to have Sexual
Intercourse

Some people might argue that there is no need to help or invest money into the LGBTQ
community. They might say this because they might think there isnt anything special or wrong going on
with the LGBTQ youth. They are incorrect because as I show you in my policy brief this is clearly an issue.
Recommendation 1:
I recommend that Health care get better training so that they can deal better with the LGBTQ
youth. So that problem is that not many health care providers are familiar with LGBTQ and dont know
how to deal with there problems. It is the right recommendation to make because they will have cultural
competency health care providers, which means they will understand the meaning of LGBTQ they go
threw on a daily bases. So that they can know how to deal with these patient when they come in for
care.
Recommendation 2:
Another recommendation I will want to make is to change gender and sexuality
reporting categories to make the LGBTQ community represented. I believe this recommendation will
make the LGBTQ community feel more respected because their being identified. I think this is he right
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Felt Sad or Hopeless
Felt Sad or Hopeless
change to make because the LGBTQ community will feel equal to heterosexual people. Also we will have
more information about the LGBTQ community to collect when needed.
Recommendation 3:
Last recommendation I want to make is to train all educators on working and dealing
with hard situation that the LGBTQ community experience. I think that it will help all the educators have
more knowledge on the LGBTQ and be able to deal with the mental health issue they go threw. I believe
this is the right change to make because educators will know how to deal with the LGBTQ youth and
community and all their flaws they go through, also they will be aware of their warnings.


New data on LGBTQ Mental Health
(www.apa.org)
How to improve Mental Health care for LGBTQ youth
(www.americanprogress.org)
Youth Mental Health/ Prevalence of Mental Health disorders among youth
(www.findyouthinfo.gov)