Queer people have been disproportionately impacted by poor mental health, according to an LGBTQ+ charity in Sheffield.
Heather Paterson, CEO of SAYiT, said years of hiding your true identity and the general anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric in society lead to poor mental health.
She said: “It’s not a biological fact that queer people suffer with their mental health more than anyone else.
“It’s because us as queer people are ill-treated.
“If you are routinely bullied, discriminated against, experiencing hate, being excluded from families and communities, and reading hate online, that is going to get to you.
“So, we have higher rates of depression, anxiety, and ultimately suicidality.”
A review of studies on mental health issues in the queer community in the UK by Rethink Mental Illness found LGBTQ+ people are one and half times more likely to develop depression and anxiety disorder compared to the rest of the population.
Stonewall’s ‘Prescription for Change’ report found lesbian and bisexual women had higher rates of suicidal thoughts and self-harm compared to women in general.
Ms Paterson is a queer woman herself and has worked with LGBTQ+ youth for 24 years in Sheffield.
SAYiT provides practical support to LGBTQ+ youth aged 8-25, host parent and carer groups and training to organisations on how to address discrimination.
She also said: “I almost feel like I have to give a disclaimer or content warning every time I open my mouth to talk about being a queer person in the UK at the moment.
“You just have to look at our government and the media, and the level that queer people are being attacked currently is just obscene.
“We’re just making sure that the queer young people that come to us as an organisation get through the day and see tomorrow, and the fact that that’s the aspiration is horrific.
A report by Stonewall into LGBTQ+ health also found that half of LGBTQ+ people had experienced depression, and three in five had experienced anxiety.
They also found one in eight of these people aged 18 to 24 had attempted to end their life, and almost half of trans people had thought about taking their life.
In honour of Trans Day of Remembrance on 20th November, SAYiT are running an event in the Winter Gardens in the city centre from 5:30pm to 7pm.
Trans Day of Remembrance has been observed annually on November 20th as a day to memorialise those who have been murdered as a result of transphobia.