2020 Has Left the LGBTQ Community Isolated and Afraid

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of people reaching out to the Trevor Project, a suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization, has at times doubled. LGBTQ youth are more vulnerable to mental health impacts as social distancing removes the supportive social interactions they need and quite possibly leaves them quarantined in an unsupportive or abusive home, according to the Trevor Project.

Even before coronavirus, the LGBTQ population was more likely to experience homelessness and unemployment. They are three times more likely to be jailed. Now, as the election approaches, LGBTQ healthcare is at stake. The administration wants to throw out protections under the Affordable Care Act’s nondiscrimination rules. The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the in the case of California v. Texas this fall.

“They’ll try to cut off access to health care for trans people any way they can,” Shannon Minter, an attorney at the National Center for Lesbian Rights, told Vox. “They can do a lot of damage on the health care front. It would be, in my opinion, probably the single most devastating impact on the trans community.”

Immigration crackdowns are also adversely affecting the international trans community seeking asylum in the U.S. “The rules of asylum are completely changing,” the founder of the Trans Latina Coalition, Bamby Salcedo, told Vox. “Through that process, a lot of people are being excluded. This is something that will definitely impact trans women.”

Showing up to vote in November may be the only way to stop the ongoing damage. If you’re looking for another way to support the LGBTQ community during this incredibly dire time, may I suggest volunteering or donating to the LGBTQ Freedom Fund.