KANSAS CITY – Heartbreaking insight on the struggles of LGBTQ+ youth in Kansas and Missouri, as a group focused on suicide prevention is out with its latest report on their mental health.
According to the Trevor Project, about 40% of LGBTQ+ adolescents in both states who were surveyed considered suicide over the course of a year, and 15% did attempt to take their own lives.
The survey also showed half or more suffering from anxiety and depression due to bullying and threats, and about half could not access the mental health care they desired.
The Trevor Project says "LGBTQ+ young people are not inherently prone to higher suicide risk because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Rather, they are placed at higher risk because of how they are mistreated and stigmatized in society."
Nearly 10% said they were threatened with so-called conversion therapy and some of those were subjected to it.
Conversion therapy is the pseudoscience practice of trying to convert or change someone’s sexual orientation.