Group of LGBTQ young people standing together and looking into the camera
Mental Health

How LGBTQ youth can cope with anxiety and stress during COVID-19

At The Trevor Project, we know that LGBTQ youth are faced with additional pressures in the face COVID-19. In addition to social distancing, isolation and potential quarantine, you may be either in close quarters with family members with whom you have had conflict based on your identity, or find yourself separated from family members/loved ones who have been a support to you in the past. In addition, you might be feeling resentment or anger towards people in your life who haven’t stepped up in the face of a national health crisis. In LGBTQ communities, “chosen family” often play a more…
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Advocacy

Virginia Becomes the 20th State to Protect LGBTQ Youth From Conversion Therapy

On Monday, March 2nd, Virginia became the 20th state to protect LGBTQ youth from conversion therapy as Governor Northam signed legislation prohibiting licensed medical professionals from practicing the widely discredited practice of conversion therapy on minors. The bill will go into effect on July 1, 2020. “As a survivor of this dangerous and fraudulent practice, I can’t fathom just how many young LGBTQ lives may be saved with these critical protections from conversion therapy. At The Trevor Project, we hear from LGBTQ youth in crisis every day and we know that those who are subjected to conversion therapy are more…
Advocacy

Fighting for Trans Youth in Florida and Beyond

The Trevor Project is working closely with LGBTQ organizations and activists across the country in opposing an onslaught of new bills aimed at criminalizing medically necessary care for transgender youth. You can learn more about why denying best-practice, gender-affirming care would put lives at risk by reading this op-ed by Trevor’s Medical Director, Dr. Alexis Chavez. Most recently, Trevor’s advocacy team was proud to support Equality Florida in opposing HB 1365 at a House Health Quality Subcommittee on Monday, February 3rd. With this bill, extremist politicians were threatening doctors with up to 15 years in prison for affirming trans youth in…
Advocacy

South Dakota Lawmakers Propose Medical Care Ban Harmful to Transgender Youth

South Dakota legislators recently proposed HB 1057, a bill that would criminalize medical care for any transgender patient under the age of 18, even when such care is deemed medically necessary and has the consent of the patient’s parents. The proposed legislation goes against medical care best practices for transgender youth, which are backed by the American Academy of Pediatrics and other leading medical authorities.
Volunteer working and writing in a notebook and typing on the computer
Advocacy

Conversion Therapy: What’s Happening in 2020?

Since 2012, 18 states and the District of Columbia have acted to protect LGBTQ youth from the dangerous and discredited practice of conversion therapy — with Utah poised to become the 19th state in the coming weeks. That momentum looks to continue in 2020: the states of Florida, Missouri, Virginia, Kentucky, and West Virginia have already filed such bills for the 2020 legislative session, with Oklahoma, Minnesota, and others preparing to take action before the sessions begin. According to The Trevor Project’s research, LGBTQ youth who report having at least one accepting adult were 40% less likely to report a suicide…