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Community

Supporting Black LGBTQ Youth Mental Health

By: Tia Dole, Ph.D., Chief Clinical Operations Officer, The Trevor Project Over the last several days, The Trevor Project has been supporting Black LGBTQ youth in crisis expressing a wide range of emotions over the senseless and unjust violence against Black Americans. No matter where you’re located, it’s possible that these current events are impacting your mental health in ways you might not realize. Black LGBTQ young people hold multiple marginalized identities. Under the minority stress model, experiences of discrimination, rejection, threats, and violence are compounded, and can lead to negative mental health outcomes. In addition, we know from our research that…
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Gender Identity

Trevor Releases a Guide to Being a Trans and Nonbinary Ally to Mark Transgender Day of Visibility

Transgender Day of Visibilty (TDOV) is a time to celebrate the transgender members of our community and the positive impact that they bring. Being out as trans can be a very liberating choice for many people. It means that they are able to live as their true and authentic self, which is what we hear every day from the youth who contact our crisis services. We recognize that TDOV creates a critical platform for raising up transgender and nonbinary experiences and voices, and we’re proud to contribute our Guide to Being an Ally to Transgender and Nonbinary Youth to the discourse for…
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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…