Opinion: Family support plays important role helping LGBTQ youth through difficult times

IN THE FIRST half of 2022, some 20 states passed some form of anti-LGBTQ legislation, ranging from how gender identity is presented in schools to limiting transgender youth in sports and restricting medical treatments for transgender children. These new laws send dangerous and confusing messages to kids who live in any state that being different, whether in terms of gender identity or sexual orientation, or both, is wrong, shameful and intolerable. 

In May, the Trevor Project released its annual survey on the mental state of LGBTQ youth, which found that 45 percent of LGBTQ youth seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year.