Massive new study says Donald Trump's presidency worsened LGBTQ mental health

[Behind the Aegis]

A new study of 1.06 million Americans has found that the mental distress of LGBTQ Americans increased during the administration of Republican President Donald Trump, arguably the most anti-LGBTQ president of all time.

The study, published in the journal Economics & Human Biology, looked at responses from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). The BRFSS is a survey of nearly 450,000 adults conducted annual by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The survey asks respondents how many days during the past 30 days they considered their mental health to be “not good.” People who respond “30 days” are considered to have experienced “extreme mental distress.”

The study found that LGBTQ-identified respondents experienced a greater increase in extreme mental distress than non-LGBTQ respondents.

In 2014, before Trump became president, 7.7 percent of LGBTQ individuals and 4.8 percent of non-LGBTQ individuals reported extreme mental distress. By 2019, three years into Trump’s presidency, 12 percent of LGBTQ adults reported extreme mental distress, compared to just five percent of non-LGBTQ people.

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I would say "Well, duh! Water is wet!", but, given some of the comments I have seen recently in self-proclaimed liberal/progressive spaces, maybe it isn't as obvious as one would think. It is disturbing how ingrained homophobia and heterosexism are in the overall culture, so much so, even some our alleged allies are making things difficult for us.

[gay texan]

1. Ya think????

I didnt wear anything pride related during the last 4 years. It was that fucking crazy

[Solly Mack]

2. K&R

I agree. Duh!

[lambchopp59]

3. So much nonsense, frankly I thought we were outgrowing admirably exception "Tea Party" idiots

The morning of November 9th, 2016 I couldn't even stomach breakfast. It became 4 freaking years of indigestion, suddenly we were living in a sick, alternate universe where the stupidest, racist, homophobic back seats of the classroom bullies had the upper hand over anyone with a shred of logic.
No hope of "surely this won't last" surfaced. It just got worse and worse.
It has finally gotten to where the idiots themselves have become so fractured in which direction of insanity to follow, they're eating their own, they're committing mass suicide, and still convinced they're "patriotic, owning duh libs".
Of course LGBT are at our wits end. The most idiotic crazies got empowered and they are armed to the teeth in WalMart.

[Behind the Aegis]

4. Adding insult to injury...

...are those, some claiming to be our allies, telling us to "calm the fuck down" as we worry that the thug forces gather steam to possibly overturn LGBTQ rights! Sure, "it will never happen (here)" is their battle cry as we are all witnessing an attack on people of color in regards to voting and women in regards to their personal health, but, yeah, we are supposed to believe they will never come for OUR rights.




I am so sick of non-gay people telling what should and shouldn't concern me as a gay man!

[IngridsLittleAngel]

5. You're telling me

Except it didn't start with Drumpf being elected. It started with his escalator ride from hell, and how he riled up all the domestic terrorists and bigots. Then, became even worse on 11/9, and now it seems there is no end in sight.

Maybe this isn't the place for this, but, sometimes you just have to get shit off your chest...

There's been the six years of open hatred from Agolf Twitler and his fan club. People who saw TFG's victory as a mandate to make our lives a living hell in the name of "MAGA".

There are all the relationships I've had shattered - many because I couldn't handle their Drumpf worship and casual bigotry. If it wasn't casual bigotry, it was trying to tell me water isn't wet, the sun isn't bright, and "Trump's not the homophobe. Hillary is!" Other relationships wound up shattered from being so emotionally and mentally damaged from this whole nightmare that my own turmoil boiled over.

There was the incident involving a showdown with a neighbor and the local police, because said neighbor had the nerve to call 911 and report me as a "child predator", despite the fact I've never done a thing to a child. Where'd she get that kind of idea? Because "Trump and the Republicans say people like you are threats to our children!"

There's having over a decade's worth of work destroyed in a clusterfuck of sexual harassment and bigotry. Where the "good guys" discriminated against me, allowed me to be discriminated against, told me I "brought it upon myself", and allowed me to endure a very hostile work environment because I "asked for it", because "you're not normal", because "I bother people". Because nothing says charity like harassment and hatred. And, gee, I wonder where people would get the idea such shit was okay? From President MAGA, who loves to brag about grabbing them by... you know where.

I'm a fucking ball of neurosis and PTSD and anxiety, still. Because of everything I've gone through. Because of the hell Drumpf unleashed upon all on us. Because his fucking qult won't shut up, and the media keeps giving them a platform, because "74 million voted for him!" And maybe that sounds bad, because he isn't the president anymore - Biden is. But I don't blame Biden. I want to fucking make that clear. I don't blame Biden. I blame Pandora Trump and the demons he's unleashed and the fucking media for amplifying it. Biden alone can't undo this. I'm not sure 1,000 Bidens could undo this. That's how out of control the last six years have been.

As much as I'm heartbroken, I don't know if I can blame those who hate me now. I hate me. I hate me and I hate how I feel and I hate what a mess I am. I long for the days of only being depressed. I prefer moping and saying nothing over my anxiety going off the rails, or reacting out of PTSD, and screaming and wishing I were no longer alive. I hate how much I hurt, and how scared I am. I hate how much others hurt, and how scared they are. I hate this whole damned nightmare, brought on by these stupid, infantile domestic terrorists.

We went a lot further back than just "four years" under King Nothing. Sure, we can say marriage equality is still the law of the land, blah blah blah. But the open hatred and hostility from our fellow "Americans", egged on by by the asshole? It's far worse now than it was in 2014. And much like squeezing the toothpaste out of the tube, I don't know how we undo that.

The only thing that surprises me about your post and that article is it's only 12%.

I'm tired and I'm hurting and I'm scared. I don't know if I can forgive anyone who voted for the SOB. But, I know, I know.. "Her emails". Because that's so much worse than inciting hatred and bigotry...

[Behind the Aegis]

6. Thank you for sharing.

Sometimes, it helps to alleviate stress to "shout out" what is bothering us. Understand there are others who feel, understand, and know your pain, to an extent, and you are not alone. Sometimes all we have is each other.

[IngridsLittleAngel]

7. You're welcome.

And thank you for being there and listening. So true. Sometimes all we have is each other.