The Issues

LGBTQIA+ communities are far from monolithic, but the fact is that there is some universality among our experiences. For example, the literature indicates that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are more common among LGBT community members than among heterosexual and cisgender populations (Alessi & Martin, 2017; Elze, 2019). Further, trans and gender-nonconforming children experience particularly high rates of poor emotional treatment (Cook-Daniels, 2019).

Violence, oppression, discrimination, and victimization can force LGBTQIA+ people to either pay a price for living our authentic lives--or to stay in (or go back into) the closet. The development of PTSD-like disorders is possible when community members experience discrimination in housing and employment; harassment; and verbal attacks (Alessi & Martin, 2017) alongside microaggressions.

Human rights for LGBTQ+ individuals have been hard won, as some Member States of the United Nations (UN) voice fierce opposition to them; the Human Rights Council of the UN did not first adopt a resolution specific to sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) until 2011 (Elze, 2019). While a number of human rights violations (HRVs) impact LGBTQ+ communities, some limitations to the extant research around LGBTQ+ populations and HRVs may be evidenced by the fact that, as Elze (2019) states, “Neither the US government nor public discourse typically view the persecution of LGBTI people as human rights issues” (p. 186).

LGBTQ individuals continue to be subjected to HRVs in the form of sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE), also known as conversion therapy, indicating a clear need for policy change. Per Elze (2019), the majority of states have not banned the use of this discredited “treatment” with minors. See map from Movement Advancement Project above.