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Shelby Kinnin

Professor Dunham

ENG 1201

3 August 2019

Mental Health in the LGBTQ+ Community

Mental illness has always been controversial. With recent studies trying to figure out

more about the brain and how it changes, it has become a less strange concept. Something that

has also always been controversial is the LGBTQ+ community. This community represents the

lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, and multiple other identities and their people. With recent

laws and civil cases coming to light in the media many people have grown for or against this

community. When I started High School, I did not have any friends, I was new to the district so I

didn’t know anyone, I was scared, and I didn’t know if I would survive, dramatic I know. But

soon enough I found my very welcoming and very gay as they would say group of friends. We

always joke that all my friends are gay, and I am the only straight one. In the past year or so I

have wanted to learn more about this community and to help support my friends in any way I

could. Along the way I found out that I was also a part of the community. I am asexual. With all

the research about the community I have done recently I found that a huge majority of this group

of lovely people suffer from mental illnesses. Because of this I wanted to find out why. Many

people believe that being different, like being a part of the LGBTQ community, is a mental

illness. However, this is incorrect because while simply being it is not an illness, being a part of

it can lead to many hardships that can result in mental illness. I found throughout my research
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that many people in this community suffer through so many things that only a small few can

relate too.

When researching this topic there was a lot of points being made that people in the

LGBTQ+ community suffer from abuse. Whether this is from family members, friends,

significant others and even random people they have never even met. In one of the articles read it

stated, “In a third study, a researcher found LGBTQ teens were more likely to experience

multiple adverse childhood experiences and psychological/physical abuse than their heterosexual

or cisgender peers.” (Jenco). This shows that people in this community can face experiences

different than other what other might. This can cause major trauma which could result in mental

health issues. Abuse can come in many forms, physical, mental, verbal, emotional, and sexual.

In the book, The Pride Guide, it stated, “the bulk of stories you tend to hear about in

media involve straight, married couples, so there can be a myth that this doesn’t happen in queer

relationships or to teenager or it doesn’t count if you’re not married. But it does” (Lungford,

117). The quote above shows that there are many harmful things that are said about this

community that can cause them to be turned away, manipulated, and even ridiculed for what they

are trying to say happened. Because some do not believe that people in this community face

abuse it can be easy to say that nothing bad is happening to this minority and they do not need

help. This can cause many issues within the people of this community and could even cause hate

for the people that should be helping them. Like stated above there are many forms of abuse, one

of the most recognized in the media would be physical or sexual abuse. Physical abuse is mainly

just any abuse that physically harms the body. Sexual abuse would be any sexualized activity and

normally has some sort of major imbalance in power similar to physical abuse. Where these can

differ is that sometimes sexual abuse is non-violent. If a person that suffers these types of abuse
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or any abuse for that matter and does not receive the help that they need it can have long lasting

effects on the mind along with the body. Even if they do receive the help that they need they can

still have effects, this includes mental disorders, guilt, harm to others and themselves and so

many more similar or worse in how they can affect a person.

This next topic can also be considered a form of abuse, which would be abandonment.

Abandonment can be explained as someone leaving another because of major issues, neglect,

cutting all ties with a person, or even leaving a person with nothing. Many abandonment issues

in the LGBTQ+ community is related to parents and their children who are a part of the

community. For the most part abandonment in this community happens when children are kicked

out of their homes because of their identity or disgraced by their family. These parents or other

family members leave them with nothing the majority of the time which can cause homelessness

and many other issues for the child, teen, or possibly even an adult. Another quote from, the

pride guide states, “trans, cis, gay, and straight, but approximately 40 percent of all American

homeless youth identify as LGBTQ most of whom have been disowned by someone.”

(Lungford, 214). This shows a high percentage of people in this community have been disowned

or abandoned. While researching this topic it was shown that many people go to other family

members and friends for help but are also turned away, this is not always the case because some

are welcomed with open arms. Many people are kicked out because they either came out

willingly or was outed forcefully by other family members, friends, or even people in school. In

the book by Kelly Madrone she says,

Being outed can be a challenge because you have to deal with being out right away—

without warning or time to plan. You might suddenly find yourself in an unsafe situation,
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or family members or friends could surprise you and tell you that they support you no

matter what chances are the reality will be somewhere in between. (Madrone, 91)

This shows the range of support that can happen when a person comes out. Not all people in the

LGBTQ community face abuse or abandonment. But the people that do face these hardships can

resort to drugs, sex, suicide, and many other harmful things. Abandonment can result in issues

with future relationships, mental health disorders like anxiety and many other issues.

With violence there always is a major reason behind it, hate. Hate, like said in so many

children’s TV shows, is a strong word. Hate for the most part stems from fear. In the LGBTQ

community violence is everywhere. This violence is normally not against each other, even

though sometimes it is, but normally people who hate the community and what they stand for. In

recent news this hate is everywhere. With the Orlando Pulse nightclub shooting, to riots,

beatings, other murders, rapes and so much more. This violence that was described above can be

said to be hate crimes. Hate crimes according to the Human Rights Campaign Foundation was

explained as, “A hate crime or bias-motivated crime occurs when the perpetrator of the crime

intentionally selects the victim because of who the victim is.” (Marzullo, Libman, 2). They can

select the victim(s) according to race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, beliefs and so much more.

Some of the most well-known hate crimes would be those done by the KKK. These hate crimes

can cause major trauma for the people involved or even people who witnessed or even seen on

the news. This trauma can result in many mental health problems like PTSD, depression, other

anxiety disorders and so much more.

Homophobia, the major hate against people in this community. Homophobia is classified

as a hatred or dislike of homosexual people. Another phobia would be transphobia. This is

similar to homophobia but is for people who are against or hate transgender people or people
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who are not cis gender. Homophobia is the main reason for a lot of hate crimes in the world

against people in this community. Homophobic things that can occur would be yelling slurs at a

person like “Fag”, “Queer”, and so many more hateful words. Along with harassment, attacking

a person who is in the community, and even things like correction therapy. Things like

homophobia can also happen in schools and in careers and can cost people jobs and even their

own education. In one of the scholarly articles it talked about how some jobs have become more

welcoming to people in the community, but some have refused to hire people who were a part of

the community. This would be considered homophobia and even a hate crime. In schools

everywhere there is bullying. Some people bully for the power, but others bully because of a

certain hatred for a person. Many people growing up who are LGBTQ suffer through bullying

because of homophobia. This hatred could have been implemented into the children and teens

from parents, family members, teachers, and even other kids.

Like stated above most people go to school and eventually acquire a job soon after or

before graduating high school or college. For people who are gay or are in the community can

face a lot of backlash or discrimination while working or learning. Many students suffer through

bullying and harassment while going through school. Many people stay closeted while in school

because they fear what would happen if they weren’t. In figure 1 it shows statistics of bullying in

America and other fears, like being closeted and what they struggle with while in school. In the

past few years there has been a movement to change this, but it has only helped a bit. In one of

the scholarly articles it said, “In attempts to reduce bullying and create support systems for

LGBTQ students, GSAs have been implemented in schools across the country to provide a social

network of peers who are accepting, supportive, and affirming the importance of these in-school

support systems…” (White, 596). This quote shows that there is change being made in the world
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to help people in the community feel more welcomed. While homophobia is still around and

most likely will be for quite a while. People who have suffered through this could develop

mental illnesses because of it or even attempt and succeed in suicide. This is the horrible reality

for some people in the community.

Figure 1 Shows statistics of bullying. Source: https://www.hrc.org/youth-report/view-and-share-statistics

In the workplace, there have been many laws against discrimination. While researching

there was a lot of information about finding a place that is more accepting of people who can be

deemed different. A major law in the US that protects against discrimination is title VII. This law

makes it so people cannot be discriminated or not given a job based on gender, race, and many

other attributes. While homophobia and other discrimination is still prevalent in the workforce

this law makes it harder to do and makes it easier to change or get action if necessary. One thing

that was read while researching was over mental health in the workplace. It showed many

statistics over people with mental disorders and their performance at a workplace. It also gave

statistics over whether people in the LGBT community also suffered through mental health

issues while working and it showed that it was quite high compared to heterosexual people.
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Going along with homophobia and traumatic experiences many people suffer though

conversion therapies. These therapies can also be called reparative and even correction therapy.

This therapy is normally meaning to change a person back to being straight or back to be the

gender they were born with. These are normally Christians who create this therapy, but it can

also just be people who are morally against LGBT people. This type of therapy has been

outlawed in many countries but still are present in the modern world today. Most states in the US

have laws against them. Not all states do though, but some counties and cities have outlaws

against them if the whole state does not have a law. Many groups have outwardly stated that they

are against them. Some of those groups include: the AACAP, American Academy of Pediatrics,

American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, and even the American Psychiatric

Association. There are so many more groups that are strongly against this type of very harmful

therapy.

Some outcomes that result in this type of therapy can include, depression, anxiety, stress,

suicidal thoughts, suicide, and so many other horrible issues. Figure 2 shows statistics of

conversion (reparative) therapy and some of the outcomes. In an interview conducted for this

essay the interviewee stated that an online friend of theirs had very homophobic parents and the

friend was worried that she might end up in conversion therapy, because her parents were talking

about sending her. When they went to talk to the friend the following day, the friend never

responded. They never heard back from them and haven’t been able to find them on any other

site or social media platform since. Conversion therapy can be very difficult to understand, how

it works, what exactly happens during it, and many other questions can go through a person’s

head when they think about it. The basis of it is that people are trying to change a person’s

identity or orientation. They can do this by shocking the patients, using inducing drugs, prayer,
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and many others. While this isn’t true for all conversion therapies. Many people try to use sex to

convert people back into being straight. This could be consensual sex, or it could also be

nonconsensual sex, also known as rape. Many asexuals have experienced this and it is known as

corrective rape. This shows some of the horrors of homophobia and violence against people in

the LGBT community.

Figure 2: This shows the statistics of reparative therapy and how it affects people in the community.
Source: www.hrc.org/resources/the-lies-and-dangers-of-reparative-therapy

While many of the traumas above stem from hatred some are just everyday things that

can create life lasting effects on a person regardless of their sexuality or gender identity. An

example of this would be a car crash. A car crash could create major head trauma along with

physical effects on the body like loosing limbs or breaking bones. Many people who were in life

threatening car crashes can have fears of cars for the rest of their lives. A person could have lost

a loved one to the car crash, thus creating even more mental health problems that they wouldn’t

have had before the crash occurred. Some people can be born with mental health issues like

bipolar disorder, ADHD, schizophrenia, and many others. These disorders are genetic and can be

passed down through generations. Other mental health issues could take into effect unrelated to

what the person is going through. Many people who have depression have no exact reason to be
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depressed, they just are, they may have a perfect life with nothing ever bad happening to them,

but they would still be depressed.

With mental health there are so many different types of disorders. There have been many

already talked about. Some of which include anxiety, depression, PTSD, bipolar, eating

disorders, OCD, phobias, and even personality disorders. Some stem from homophobia and other

hate towards them, while others could just because of other traumas unrelated to being apart of

the community or that they were born with a mental disorder. Disorders like bipolar, personality

disorders, autism, and sometimes even OCD can be genetic or that you are born with the

disorder. Disorders like PTSD, depression, anxiety, and other phobias can result because of

trauma or they can also develop because the brain changed chemically resulting in an imbalance.

Depression can be described as a negative sense of sadness and makes it so a person may not feel

joy with things that did before. Anxiety is described as a state of excessive worry or nervousness.

Another major disorder that can affect people in the community which is PTSD this is defined as

an anxiety disorder that results from past traumatic experiences. This disorder can result in

nightmares, insomnia, triggers, agitation, detachment and many other symptoms. There are many

other types of illnesses or disorders that can occur, these are the only more well-known or most

occurring.

Many people are homophobic for reasons that seem preposterous. Some say it is because

it is ungodly, not right, impure, satanic, and so on. Many homophobic people are heavily

religious or have ties to a religion. They might say that people who are gay, bi, ace, people who

do not conform to the gender binary, or people who have changed their gender to something that

is not their original sex, like trans people are mental ill. People in the LGBTQ+ community are

not mentally ill because of their orientation. Though many people believe it to be true and have
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believed it for many decades, and maybe even centuries. They might say it because of a scripture

from a religious text, like the bible. While researching an article was found that showcased this

belief, “Meanwhile, people who have come out of LGBT lifestyles say the power of God can

help heal sexual identity disorders. Many people… protested a bill by California lawmakers who

are trying to ban efforts to provide biblical counseling to those struggling with same-sex

attraction.” (CBN News). While this article does seem to be an unreliable source it does show a

person’s point of view who believes that being gay or trans is a mental illness. There are many

other articles and posts out there that display these beliefs and greatly harm people in the

LGBTQ+ community.

This past June I went to a pride parade with my friends. I got to walk in the parade and

pass out cards that stated things like, “You Matter” and “You are beautiful”. I also got to give

free hugs to any person that wanted or needed them. Seeing all these happy smiling people

brought joy to my heart knowing that there are so many loving and supporting people out there.

Recently I found out that I was asexual. Only my friends know this because I am terrified of

anyone else I know, like my parents, knowing. My parents are not the violent type, but they have

very strong and opinionated views on the LGBTQ+ community. They do believe that it is a sin

and a mental illness. Growing up hearing this I wanted to know if this was true or not and found

my answer with this research. Seeing all the violence on the news relating to shootings makes me

nervous to even leave my own house. But, knowing that there are people who are actually kind

and would stand up to people who are not kind makes me believe that maybe the world isn’t so

bad and that maybe just maybe my generation can help change it.

While some people say that being LGBTQ+ is a mental illness that is just not true for so

many reasons. The first being is that there has been no known evidence to support this, in the
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past that was true, but it was deemed incorrect by the APA, now homosexuality and transgender

is now said to not be an illness. Many people who believe this believe it because of their belief

system, some believe that loving or wanting to change another gender is wrong or immoral.

Other reasons as to why people who are in the community are not mentally ill because of their

identity is because of trauma, harassment, hate, and any other thing that can harm a person

mentally or physically. Trauma can cause mental illnesses along with hate and other disturbances

people in the community face. So, to conclude being different like being gay or trans is not a

mental illness because people in this community suffer many traumatic experiences that can

result in mental illnesses not because they are outwardly different to some people.
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Works Cited

Bergner, Daniel. “The Struggles of Rejecting The Gender Binary.” The New York Times , 4 June

2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/06/04/magazine/gender-

nonbinary.html?rref=collection/timestopic/Homosexuality.

CBN News. “WHO Says Transgenderism Not Mental Health Disorder, but Ex-LGBT People and

Researchers Disagree.” CBN News, 21 June 2018,

https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/health/2018/june/who-says-transgenderism-not-mental-

health-disorder-but-ex-lgbt-people-and-researchers-disagree

Huegel, Kelly. LGBTQ: the Survival Guide for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and

Questioning Teens. Free Spirit Publishing Inc., 2018.

Human Rights Campaign. “The Lies and Dangers of ‘Conversion Therapy.’” Human Rights

Campaign, www.hrc.org/resources/the-lies-and-dangers-of-reparative-therapy.

Human Rights Campaign. “Growing Up LGBT in America: View and Share Statistics.” Human

Rights Campaign, www.hrc.org/youth-report/view-and-share-statistics.

Hurm, Myan. Personal Interview. 6 July. 2019.

Jenco, Melissa. “Studies: LGBTQ Youths Have Higher Rates of Mental Health Issues,

Abuse.” AAP Gateway, 5 June 2019,

www.aappublications.org/news/2018/04/16/lgbtq041618.

Langford, Jo. Pride Guide: a Guide to Sexual and Social Health for LGBTQ Youth. Rowman &

Littlefield Publishers, Incorporated, 2018.

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Martin, Jennifer, et al. “Impacts of Regulatory Processes on the Experiences of Carers of People

in LGBTQ Communities Living with Mental Illness or Experiencing a Mental Health

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doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2019.03.043.

Marzullo, Michelle A., and Alyn J. Libman. “Hate Crimes and Violence Against Lesbian, Gay,

Bisexual, and Transgender People.” Human Rights Documents Online, 19 May 2009,

doi:10.1163/2210-7975_hrd-9800-0005.

Takenaga, Lara. “'It's Binding or Suicide': Transgender and Non-Binary Readers Share Their

Experiences with Chest Binders.” The New York Times , 17 June 2019,

www.nytimes.com/2019/06/17/reader-center/chest-

binding.html?rref=collection/timestopic/Homosexuality.

White, Arielle E., et al. “LGBTQ Adolescents’ Positive and Negative Emotions and Experiences

in U.S. High Schools.” Sex Roles: A Journal of Research, no. 9-10, 2018, p.

594. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1007/s11199-017-0885-1.