A Brief Note On Oppression Of Mental Health

In 2022, the Trevor Project found that 45% of LGBTQ+ youth seriously contemplated suicide and 14% attempted suicide. For years, the LGBTQ+ community has faced countless oppression, such as violence and inequality. Many factors in LGBTQ+ people’s lives also impact their mental health, like the lack of acceptance in society, victimization, inequality, lack of peer support, and more. As a result, the community is affected in ways that are irreversible: trauma, injury, and suicide. When LGBTQ+ individuals face these problems, their mental health is affected in the long run. LGBTQ+ people experience mental health issues because of the oppression, critiques, and crimes against the community. The oppression of the LGBTQ+ community leads

162). As a result, these individuals turn out with mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, panic, etc. The severity of mental health issues can be associated with how severe of a crime the individual faced; individuals who faced more severe crimes turned out with worse mental health outcomes (Kassing et al. 162). Also, the location that an LGBTQ+ individual lives in may affect their mental health, such as the southern United States, because of the lack of acceptance and protection of the community. On a similar topic, LGBTQ+ individuals are more likely to face disparities in healthcare due to their identities. Examples of the disparities in the healthcare of the community are being denied gender-confirming surgeries, receiving poor treatment because of one’s identity, and underestimated/misdiagnosed health conditions. Because of the lack of

It is reasonable to believe that coming out to society would lift the burden off of LGBTQ+ individuals’ shoulders, but it does not always turn out perfectly. A survey from the Pew Research Center asked how many people are aware of their sexual identity; among all LGBT that participated, only about 54% of the most important people in their lives knew of their identities. Coming out gives LGBTQ+ individuals the ability to become comfortable in themselves, reach out to others in the community, and allows them to show their true identities. Only a little bit over half of the community confirms their identities with their peers, but how do they react to the information? In the United States, much has been done to fight for LGBTQ+ acceptance and visibility, such as same-sex marriage and the fight for less discrimination in the workplace; however, many U.S. citizens disagree with these policies. The U.S. is still divided on the topic of same-sex marriage, with 42% opposing it and 51% favoring it (Pew Research Center). Also, many U.S. citizens are also worried about the visibility of the LGBTQ+ community in children, believing that it will make them believe that homosexuality is the right way when in reality, it does not affect their sexualities. Back to the topic of the reactions of coming out, among all LGBT in a survey from the Pew Research Center, 59%