The survey found 1 in 10 LGBTQ+ young people attempted suicide over the past year.
DENVER — A new national survey from The Trevor Project shows the toll the current political climate is taking on LGBTQ youth, including some people here in Colorado.
The Trevor Project released its seventh annual U.S. National Survey on the Mental Health of LGBTQ+ Young People this month, drawing on responses from more than 16,000 participants. The data shows mental health outcomes worsening amid a surge of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation across the country. They survey found 1 in 10 LGBTQ+ young people attempted suicide in the past year.
Ronita Nath, vice president of research at The Trevor Project, said the findings underscore a deepening crisis.
“This year’s survey adds new and robust data to confirm what we have long known to be true, that LGBTQ+ youth in the United States face high rates of suicide risk because of how they’re mistreated and stigmatized in this country,” Nath said.
Among the survey’s key findings: 36% of LGBTQ+ young people seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year, including 40% of transgender and nonbinary young people. Transgender and nonbinary young people who were unable to access the hormones they wanted were nearly twice as likely to attempt suicide than those who could.
Additionally, 90% of LGBTQ+ young people said recent anti-LGBTQ+ laws, policies and debates caused them stress or anxiety, and 78% said those policies made them feel unsafe. Nearly a third said they or their family considered moving to a different state because of such laws.
“Already 2026 is on track to be yet another record-breaking year for anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in the US and for anti-transgender legislation in particular,” said Nath.
In Colorado, hundreds of transgender youth lost access to gender-affirming care after Children’s Hospital Colorado abruptly stopped providing those services to minors. A lawsuit seeking to reverse that decision awaits a ruling from the Colorado Supreme Court.
Danielle Doe, a 15-year-old transgender eighth grader who asked to be identified only by a pseudonym, is among the plaintiffs. She said learning she could no longer receive care devastated her.
“When I found out I couldn’t receive gender-affirming care I kind of just broke down,” she said. “I had to go in-patient for a while. I couldn’t see any of my family or my friends and it was very hard.”
Danielle said the experience caused her to withdraw from everyone around her. “I would distance from my friends and my family, and I would stay in my room all day and it really affected me and I’m still recovering from that,” she said.
The survey found that 44% of LGBTQ+ young people were unable to access the mental health care they wanted in the past year. However, the data also showed a path forward: LGBTQ+ young people living in very accepting communities attempted suicide at less than a third of the rate of those in very unaccepting communities.
“LGBTQ+ youth do not face this high suicide risk because of who they are, because of their identities,” Nath said. “It is because of how they’re mistreated and stigmatized and denied support.”
Danielle said she hopes her story can change that.
“I just wish the government would realize we’re people just like you and we’re not doing anything wrong by being who we truly are,” she said.