“No one is in a better position to identify the supports that LGBTQ youth need to thrive than these youth themselves,” asserts a new report that offers a “holistic” look at the lived experiences of these young people in their own words.
“In Their Own Words: Learning from LGBTQ Youth Experiences to Tell a New Story (PDF)” was created by the Movement Advancement Project (MAP), in partnership with Advocates for Trans Equality (A4TE), Advocates for Youth, Equality Federation, GLSEN, PFLAG National, and The Trevor Project. In it, they note that there are now more than 2 million youth ages 13 to 17 who identify as LGBTQ, or roughly 9.5% of all youth in the United States, an increase from years past.
The report delves into how LGBTQ youth can experience both acceptance and rejection in key areas of their lives. Here are some highlights.
Home
Other research, as I’ve written about myself, has long shown that family acceptance has a positive effect on the health and well-being of LGBTQ young people and also helps protect against negative outcomes. But the new report reminds us of a 2024 national survey (PDF) by The Trevor Project that found only 2 in 5 (40%) LGBTQ youth respondents said their home was LGBTQ-affirming. One positive sign, however, the report notes, is that PFLAG has seen a significant growth in its over 350 chapters around the country in recent years, as more families seek to understand and support their LGBTQ loved ones.
Community
LGBTQ youth say that community spaces where they feel accepted by people outside of their immediate family are important. These could be school, neighborhood, or faith programs, or even online communities. Many LGBTQ youth also find themselves in non-welcoming spaces, however; one 2014 study (PDF) that the report cites found that only 9% of transgender youth said their communities were very accepting, and only 8% said their faith communities were very accepting. Has that improved in the past decade? Maybe for some, but I have to think that for others, things have gotten worse as anti-trans rhetoric and policies are on the rise.
School
More LGBTQ youth report that their schools are affirming spaces (52%) than their homes (40%), according to The Trevor Project. But GLSEN’s 2021 National School Climate Survey (PDF) shows that 68% of students felt unsafe at school because of their sexual orientation, gender expression, and/or gender identity.
Health Care
While all youth deserve quality medical care, many transgender youth now live in the over half of U.S. states that ban best practice medical care for transgender youth. MAP’s report discusses the settings and policies that providers need in order to treat trans and other LGBTQ youth “from a place of knowledge, openness, and cultural competence about all aspects of their health, including mental health.”
The Policy Landscape
LGBTQ youth, like all others, need care at home and in health care, support from trusted adults, a chance to lead and grow, and to be treated equally under the law at all levels of government, says MAP. But the largest percentage (38%) of LGBTQ youth live in the South, followed by 24% in the West, 21% in the Midwest, and 17% in the Northeast. More granularly, more than half of all LGBTQ youth live in places that have passed at least one anti-LGBTQ law targeting youth in the last five years—and half of all states have a “negative” LGBTQ youth policy score, according to a companion MAP report, “LGBTQ Policy Tally: Mapping Equality for LGBTQ Youth.”
What to do? Listen to the youth themselves, says MAP. The thoughts and recommendations of the youth in the report can help guide adults towards meaningful and effective actions that can make a positive difference. The report also includes recommendations from advocates working with LGBTQ youth and their families. And as one Black trans youth said:
“Believe us. Protect us. Invest in us. Don’t wait until we’re hurting to care. Use your power to make sure our schools are safe, that we have bathrooms we can use, teachers who support us, and mental health resources that actually understand us. Stop trying to “fix” us—just show up, listen, and fight for a world where we don’t have to keep explaining why we deserve to exist.”
Even we LGBTQ parents, who were once LGBTQ youth ourselves, would be well advised to read this report in order to better understand and support the LGBTQ youth of today—and to know that it’s a tool we can recommend to policymakers, school administrators, healthcare professionals, and other people in our communities.