Pride Month: LGBTQ Mental Health and Well-Being

This week, Jerky explores the unique challenges LGBTQ people face regarding their well-being.

Homosexuality was removed from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) by the American Psychiatric Association in 1973. 

It took years of activism and some very smart moves to discredit the presence of homosexuality as a mental illness. It would take 30 more years to remove transgenderism from the same manual.

While being LGBTQ is not considered a mental illness anymore, people from the community are at a much higher risk of suffering from one than others:

• Six times more likely to suffer from depression
• Four times more likely to attempt suicide

Almost half of transgender people have considered committing suicide in the last year. Their sexual orientation and gender non-conformity often being, directly or indirectly, the main reason for their mental distress.

While LGBTQ people are 2.5 times more likely to seek psychological help than their non-LGBTQ counterparts, finding a healthcare provider can be a hurdle. 

Half of them have reported being mistreated by a provider: denial of care, insults, blaming illness on their identity, etc. The situation seems worse for transgender people, with one in three being denied care. 

One of the key elements to LGBTQ well-being is being open about their sexuality or gender identity. The stress of having to mask and hide all the time is incredibly taxing and detrimental to their health. 

That’s yet the reality for almost half of LBTQ people who stay closeted at work for fear of being treated differently or unequally by their colleagues and employer. 

According to the CDC, up to 1 in 4 high school students are either queer or questioning, with bisexuals accounting for half of them. One of the keys to making these students feel safe is that:

• Explicit policies against sexual and gender discrimination are in place
• School personnel have relevant and sufficient support and training on LGBTQ issues
• Queer clubs and associations exist
• Having access to resources about LGBTQ issues

Long story short: not acknowledging LGBTQ people’s existence does not make them disappear. It makes them feel isolated, alienated, unsafe and invisible. It makes LGBTQ youth unable to find the words to describe themselves. 

It makes other people, such as healthcare providers and school personnel, unable to understand and adequately support members of the LGBTQ community. 

Let’s make this Pride Month about giving LGBTQ people the visibility they need and deserve. It will help them feel seen, accepted, and safe while allowing non-LGBTQ people to learn about queer identities and issues. 

This Pride month, cheer on the community by supporting your favorite LGBTQ cam models on Jerkmate. 

Create a new Premium account in June, and Jerky will donate 5$ to the Trevor Project to support LGBTQ youth’s health and safety!