WASHINGTON – The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) has released a groundbreaking study of LGBT-identified young people and a corollary study of straight teens that shows tremendous disparities between the two groups. With more than 10,000 respondents ages 13-17, Growing Up LGBT in America is the largest known survey of LGBT teens.
Among the report’s key findings:
• Fifty-four percent of LGBT youth say they have been verbally harassed and called names involving anti-gay slurs
• Nearly half of LGBT youth (47 percent) say they do not “fit in” in their community while only 16 percent of non-LGBT youth feel that way
• Sixty-seven percent of straight youth describe themselves as happy but this number drops to 37 percent among LGBT young people
• Eighty-three percent of LGBT youth believe they will be happy eventually, but only 49 percent believe they can be happy if they stay in the same city or town
• Six in 10 LGBT youth say their family is accepting of LGBT people, while a third say their family is not
• Ninety-two percent say they hear negative messages about being LGBT – 60 percent say those messages come from elected leaders
When asked to describe their most important problem, straight teens articulated the usual challenges of grades and college and finances. On the other hand LGBT teens’ worries were directly related to their identity as LGBT including non-accepting families and bullying.
“No one would say that growing up LGBT is easy, but this survey is a stark wake-up call to the daily toll that discrimination takes on vulnerable young people,” said new HRC President Chad Griffin who begins his tenure by releasing this survey. “We have a responsibility to change that, because we know all too well that there are real-life consequences to inaction.”
