Taking Care of Your Mental Health: Celebrating Pride Month While Honoring the Roots and Allowing for Inclusion

Taking Care of Your Mental Health: Celebrating Pride Month While Honoring the Roots and Allowing for Inclusion

As rainbows flutter across newsfeeds this month, it’s important to remember the true meaning of pride month. Many companies use Pride Month as a marketing ploy to seem authentic, forward-thinking, or progressive. This month, however, commemorates the Stonewall Riots that took place in New York City on June 28th, 1969. Police invasions of clubs were common, but this time was different.

People fought back for three nights, and it sparked riots and protests across the city. It has come to symbolize a monumental turning point in LGBTQ history. Words cannot express the true significance of this historical event, and while we have come a long way in the last 50 years we are nowhere near equality or justice for the LGBTQ community, especially people who identify as transgender.

Stigma, discrimination, harassment, prejudice, family rejection, and denial of civil and human rights create disproportional mental health issues in the LGBTQ community. People in the LGBTQ community have higher rates of depression (61%), PTSD (45%), and anxiety disorder(36%) than the national average. 40% of transgender individuals have attempted suicide, which is nine times the national average in the U.S. With this in mind we should all be taking time this month to reflect on how to support this community and share resources to support LGBTQ mental health.

Resources:

• The Association of LGBTQ+ Psychiatrists 
• LGBTQ National Help Center
• Family Acceptance Project
• The Trevor Project
• Glaad
• National LGBTQ Taskforce
• Human Rights Campaign
• LGBTQ National Help Center Hotline: 1-888-234-7243
• The Trevor Project: (866) 488-7386
• The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender National Hotline: (888) 843-4564

While we should always be mindful of the mental health of anyone in our life who is struggling, there are groups of people who have been marginalized, and who suffer disproportionately to the national population. This month, we honor our LGBTQ community, and next month is National Minority Health Awareness Month. The effect of racial trauma on minority groups cannot be ignored, and the impact on mental health cannot be understated.