I suppose we could keep saying “The cruelty is the point” but this is truly unsurprising. The recent rash of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, specifically anti-transgender legislation, is having its intended effect: queer and trans youth are becoming more suicidal.
From LGBTQ Nation:
About 41% of LGBTQ+ youth in the U.S. say they’ve seriously considered suicide in the last year — and about 66% say that anti-LGBTQ+ legislation has negatively affected their mental health, according to the 2023 U.S. National Survey on the Mental Health of LGBTQ Young People conducted by The Trevor Project, an LGBTQ+ youth anti-suicide organization.
Among suicidal survey respondents, those who identified as transgender, nonbinary, and/or people of color reported higher rates of suicidal ideation than their peers. About 67% of LGBTQ+ young people reported symptoms of anxiety over the last year, and 54% of LGBTQ+ young people reported symptoms of depression over the same span. Rates of anxiety and depression were, on average, 18.5% higher among trans, nonbinary, and questioning youth than among cisgender youth.
Republicans say they are “protecting the children” with their anti-LGBTQ+ legislation but we all know that this is a bald-faced lie. And that is because Republicans believe that being queer is a “choice” that can be eradicated through criminalization, abuse, “conversion”, or any number of draconian “solutions” that these sociopaths can imagine. Yet their solutions do nothing but create a hostile environment for queer folks to exist in, and the data proves this.
RELATED STORY: Rep. Zooey Zephyr taking the bastards to court.
Republicans are making it impossible for queer people to live our lives in peace. They have absolutely politicized our existence and hate crimes against LGBTQ+ people have exploded in recent years. If there is any question as to where this type of rhetoric leads, just look at Uganda.
The cruelty really IS the point.
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