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I conducted a survey to the students in my school because we are teenagers. I wanted to figure out how many queer kids get bullied in my school. I also asked how many participated in risk behaviors such as self harm, drinking, vaping or smoking cigarettes, doing drugs, or having sex.
The Results
~84% of students I surveyed said that they identify as apart of the LGBTQ+ community. All of them said that they had a friend or family member who identified as a part of the LGTBQ+. Half of them said that their friend experienced homophobia. Most of the homophobia or transphobia was being called names or slurs. Nearly half of the students that experienced homophobia or transphobia participated in risky behaviors.
A transgender gay boy wrote an extremly detailed response when I asked if they wanted to elaborate on the risk behaviors. "This is INCREDIBLY common within LGBTQ+ youth. Did you know, in our school district, you're more likely to see someone in the LGBTQ+ community smoking or drinking rather than a cisgender heterosexual individual?
Continuing off of that, self harm issues within the LGBTQ+ community. I am proud to say that I am in mental health and self harm recovery, so this story is coming straight from my personal expirience.
In the seventh grade, I was living my first school year ever being able to be a boy. I had come from a catholic school and obviously, catholicism has anti transgender beliefs. I was self harming DAILY in the seventh grade because I would constantly deal with teachers referring to me as a girl, students referring to me as a girl, EVERYBODY referring to me as a girl and this just made me want to curl up and die. People still refer to me with she/her and as ma'am occasionally, and it completely breaks my heart and almost puts me back into that deep, deep pit i worked so hard to climb out of. I have deep, large self-inflicted scars that cover my arms and thighs. My body is living proof of what happens when you bully someone for being who they are. I had been bullied nearly every single day of the seventh grade year, and they almost all had blood on their hands had i not decided to pull through and live.
This story is about another person, and this story is fresh. I will not be naming names for their privacy, but I have their consent to share this. (Before you read: the anonymous person letting me share this uses they/them pronouns. Please respect that.) I just had to send my friend a message to convince them not to commit suicide. They had felt so so bad and filthy because people call them slurs and deadname them daily. They self harm every single day and have for many, many years. They are the most hurt soul I have ever met. They refuse help, and it's incredibly uncomfortable to watch them deteriorate like this, but I try my hardest to help. They deserve to shine, just like we all do. LGBTQ+ youth need to be safe and its incredibly disheartening to see this.
On another hand, transgender people are in stage seven GENOCIDE currently. PLEASE take your time to support trans youth in SOME way. I fear my life currently and I shouldn't."
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