Supporting Black LGBTQ+ Youth and Their Mental Health
Black LGBTQIA+ youth experience higher rates of mental health challenges than their non-black peers. Black LGBTQIA+ individuals are more likely than their non-black LGBTQIA+ peers to experience depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts. Trans youth are especially vulnerable. The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) reports that black trans youth are more likely to experience mental health challenges than their non-black peers. Discrimination, prejudice, and stigma are significant contributing factors to the higher rates of mental health challenges experienced by black LGBTQIA+ youth. Additional factors such as racial prejudice, lack of access to resources, and intolerance from family members contribute to the challenges faced by black LGBTQIA+ youth.
Overlapping concerns related to race, gender, and sexuality mean that black queer youth must navigate multiple layers of intolerance and discrimination. This can lead to barriers to resources, strained relationships with family members, and increased risk for isolation. Attitudes and stigma regarding queerness within black communities can be complex and nuanced. On one hand, anti-LGBTQIA+ sentiment is prevalent within Black communities, often driven by religious beliefs. On the other hand, there are Black individuals, families, communities, and faith traditions that are LGBTQIA+ affirming. Black queers may experience rejection and discrimination from both Black and LGBTQIA+ communities.
Therefore, coping strategies are essential for black LGBTQIA+ youth. Many kids and teens find community support through affirming organizations that provide spaces and resources for queer youth of color. Another effective coping strategy for black LGBTQIA+ youth is to find and create their own exclusive safe spaces, which can include social media groups, mentorship programs, and LGBTQIA+ affirming faith communities. Other coping strategies include developing a self-care routine and seeking support for substance abuse or other unhealthy coping mechanisms.
Therapy with mental health professionals who have experience working with this population is another excellent coping strategy. However, Black queer youth also may have to navigate stigmatization and pathologizing from mental health professionals. Although psychological diagnoses related to queerness have evolved over time, homosexuality was once considered a mental disorder, and conversion therapies were prevalent in the therapeutic community. It was only in 1973 that the American Psychiatric Association (APA) removed homosexuality from its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). Today conversion therapies are now widely understood to be dangerous pseudoscience; however, despite pro- LGBTQIA+ advocates continuing to push for revisions, the DSM still includes gender identity disorder and gender dysphoria as diagnosable conditions. Advocates call for an identity framework rather than a disease framework, arguing that “Gender variance is not a psychiatric disease; it is a human variation that in some cases requires medical attention.” Additionally, there is growing support for a social-ecological model of transgender physical and mental health, which is the idea that the emotional distress and dysphoria experienced by trans and gender non-conforming folks is not an inherent part of trans identity but is instead the result of “the stigma and prejudice that people experience when, because of nothing they or anyone else did wrong, they cannot abide the sex they were assigned at birth.”
Nevertheless, there are many mental health resources for black LGBTQIA+ youth, including:
The National Queer and Trans Therapists of Color Network - a healing justice organization that actively works to transform mental health for queer and trans people of color in North America. Their website includes a directory of mental health professionals with experience working with individuals who are LGBTQIA+ and people of color.
Black Mental Health Matters - resources and support for black individuals experiencing mental health challenges, including a directory of black mental health professionals.
Therapy for Black Girls - an online space dedicated to encouraging the mental wellness of Black women and girls, including assistance finding an affirming therapist.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) - an organization dedicated to improving the quality of life for everyone impacted by mental illness, whether in themselves or a family member, through education, support, and advocacy, offered free of charge and delivered for and by people with lived experience.
The Trevor Project - an organization that provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to LGBTQIA+ youth. The organization offers a 24/7 hotline, chat, and text messaging service.
The LGBT National Resource Database - a collection of vital peer support, community connections, and resource information for people with questions regarding sexual orientation and/or gender identity and expression. The database is maintained by The LGBT National Help Center, which is the oldest and most comprehensive national organization of its type and scope in the United States, providing critically needed services regardless of age or geographic location.
Other LGBTQ+ Crisis/Suicide Prevention Hotlines:
Trans Lifeline - 877-565-8860
LGBT National Youth Talkline - 1-800-246-7743
LGBT National Hotline (all ages) - 1-888-843-4564
TrevorLifeline & TrevorText - 1-866-488-7386 or Text START to 678-678
The Steve Fund Crisis Textline (specifically for young people of color. Not LGBTQ+ specific but LGBTQ+ inclusive) - Text STEVE to 741741
