The mental health crisis among LGBTQ youth | Victoria Kirby-York, NBJC

Transcript: We began ringing the alarm on the mental health crisis for Black youth—particularly Black LGBTQ+ youth—in 2018. That year, we co-authored a report with the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, which you can find on our website. The report began charting data points that showed an increase in suicide attempts among Black women and girls, especially young girls and a dramatic rise in suicide completions among Black boys over the past 20 years.

Since then, we’ve seen escalating anti-LGBTQ+ attacks that began in earnest around 2015, followed by a surge of discriminatory bills over the past several years. It should not be surprising, then, that 49.3% of transgender youth in a recent Human Rights Commission report reported feeling unsafe in schools and locker rooms. Nor should it shock us that we are experiencing an epidemic of violence against Black transgender women in this country.

This environment sends a message that our bodies and our lives don’t matter—that acts of violence against our community will not be met with accountability. While we are beginning to see some improvements as we educate more people on ways to prevent these deaths, our efforts are undermined by lawmakers who continue to use their platforms to alienate, exclude and criminalize people for simply trying to live their lives.