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As we await the results of the 2024 presidential election, LGBTQ youth are feeling distraught about what the next four years may hold. According to the Trevor Project, the organization's crisis services saw a nearly 200% increase in election-related calls on November 3 and 4 as compared to the few days prior, as LGBTQ youth report that they're experiencing significant anxiety around the outcome.
Young people reaching out to the Trevor Project's crisis services about election-related distress reported feeling anxiety, fear, and confusion, according to a news release from the organization. For Jaymes Black, Trevor Project CEO, these calls are upsetting, but not surprising.
“While alarming, we are not surprised to see that the wave of anti-LGBTQ+ politics of the past few years continue to harm young people’s mental health,” Black said in the release. “Ninety percent of LGBTQ+ young people said recent politics negatively impacted their well-being and, transgender youth have been disproportionately impacted – with new research showing anti-transgender policies increased suicide attempts among transgender youth by as much as 72%.”
As the organization's research shows, LGBTQ youth have reported that the wave of anti-trans bills in legislatures across the country is eroding their mental health. In 2024, there have been more than 660 anti-trans bills introduced across the U.S., many of which are aimed at young people. Of those 650, 45 have passed, according to the Trans Legislation Tracker. These laws have forced young people to flee their home states to access necessary health care, and made many more feel unsafe. After Oklahoma teen Nex Benedict died following an attack in a school bathroom, experts linked anti-trans laws to a rising tide of anti-LGBTQ sentiment, which poses real threats to LGBTQ youth.
Previous polling from FOLX HEALTH found that 9 in 10 of the 1,500 trans people surveyed believe that this election will have “a major impact on access to healthcare for LGBTQ people nationwide,” and 92% felt anxiety about it. The majority of respondents said they'd experienced negative mental health outcomes as a result of the political discourse.
As of October 9, ABC News reports that the Trump campaign and other Republican groups spent $21 million on anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ ads. At rallies, former president Donald Trump has spread lies about transition-related surgeries that he falsely claims are happening in schools, and has promised to restrict, among other things, access to gender-affirming care. Vice President Kamala Harris has promised to follow federal law around gender-affirming care, saying it's a decision between a patient and a doctor. Some have called out the Democrat's relative silence around transgender rights, particularly in comparison to the GOP's loud denouncements. Other advocates have noted that Harris's law-based approach is appropriate.
