It's time to take notice of LGBT mental health

Harvey Milk, New York City, Summer 1971.

Not that long ago, homophobia was an accepted part of everyday life. You may have been called gay at school, but such was the calibre of the playground insult. You might have been jeered at by a group of lads with lager on their breath for holding hands with your partner, but that was almost to be expected. As you move from adolescence to adulthood, things aren't much different. You'll sit straight-backed on the tube, making sure your knees don’t touch your respective other's. Most likely you'll bat off lewd propositions yelled from an open window of a white van, or feel your skin redden, as many, many critical pairs of eyes fall upon you. If you're LGBT, insults hurt initially. But like scabs healing on hardened kneecaps, they eventually fall away.

Homophobia has been with us throughout history, but it's often gone unnoticed by those who don’t have lived experiences of what it’s like to go through life as someone who doesn't fit in with society's straight, cisgendered ideal. Now, all of a sudden, same-sex visibility – and a so-what attitude – seem to be absolutely everywhere. Newspapers print pictures of newly-out politicians on front pages, while First Dates regularly feature same-sex couples nervously glugging their white wine. There isn't a single soap on TV that hasn't now run a same-sex storyline. That's progress. Right?

A few weeks ago, I started working part-time at a charity called The Kaleidoscope Trust. It’s a small organisation that does some pretty amazing advocacy, as it works to further the human rights of LGBT individuals around the world who suffer for their gender identity or sexual orientation. From a sunny studio in Dalston which looks out onto back yards and old brickwork, the Trust looks to amplify the voices of those who have been silenced around the world; communicating their troubles to a wider audience, and standing with them in persuading public and political opinion to end the various injustices that take place, each day, every day, in countries where simply being yourself can put you in grave danger.

"Listening to testimonies is part of my job. That doesn't mean I expected to read or see the things I have, thus far". 

The Kaleidoscope Trust aims to listen to the voices of LGBT people whose rights – and sometimes lives – have been threatened by prejudice, discrimination, and/or the criminal law. Listening to testimonies is part of my job. That doesn't mean I ever expected to read or see the things I have, thus far. Testimonies from LGBT individuals of terrible suffering – emotional, psychological, sometimes physical – for the way they were born. It’s tough.

That’s why today, the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia, is so important. It commemorates the date in 1990 on which the World Health Organisation declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder. Since it's conception in 2004, IDAHOT (now IDAHOBIT) has mobilised LGBT communities like no other, helping to draw the attention of policymakers, opinion leaders, the public and the media to the violence and discrimination faced by LGBT people internationally. In under a decade, it's established itself an an incredibly important annual occasion, celebrated in more than 130 countries worldwide.

Dallas Dykes for the 1979 March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights

In the UK, we like to think that sexual minorities don’t suffer. We have same-sex marriage, legislation that’s scrubbed out injustices from our murky history, and plenty of high profile LGBT individuals. It's partly for that reason that the LGBT community are denied specificity and the complications that arise from homophobia slip under the radar. The great irony in the struggle for same-sex equality is that while everyone's been celebrating the greater visibility of LGBT individuals, their mental health and wellbeing - the very area that desperately needs discussion - has been deteriorating.

It's for good reason that IDAHOT's theme this year is mental health and wellbeing. Mental disorders are 2-5 times the rate in LGBT people compared to heterosexual people, and it's unsurprising when you look at why. The stress caused from homophobia that we live, each and every day, has been found to be a precipitant of mental illness. With sexual orientation microaggressions - delivered through looks, gestures, comments, and eye rolls - being found to cause low-level PTSD, tackling homophobia is more crucial than ever. Vital services like Pink Therapy are working to provide high quality care to LGBT people, but the reality is just 4p in every £100 of voluntary sector income goes to LGBT services; while others, like PACE, have expired altogether.

"We need dedicated governmental support to relevel the playing field, and ensure the specific needs of LGBT individuals are properly addressed in public healthcare".

The situation of LGBT people around the world, meanwhile, remains evermore precarious. Lives are threatened with stigma, discrimination and violence; spaces for expression slowly suffocated as society and state advance, pincer-like, on activists supporting gender and sexual diversities. More than seventy countries still criminalise homosexuality. In a handful, it carries the death sentence. The World Bank Group meanwhile has indicated that "LGBTI people have lower educational outcomes, higher unemployment rates, as well as inadequate access to healthcare, housing and financial services".

The negative impact of discrimination can never be overemphasised, but with proper care and support, the mental health and experiences of LGBT individuals could be vastly improved. International organisations like The Kaleidoscope Trust, which support activists on the ground and lobbies the government, the EU, the Commonwealth and others to further the conversation around human rights violations are working tirelessly to promote change. At a local level, we need dedicated governmental support to relevel the playing field, and ensure the specific needs of LGBT individuals are properly addressed in public healthcare. We're living in an age where psychotherapists don't know how to talk to LGBT people about sex and relationships; where the continued neglect of a certain percentage of patients is par for the course. Mental health is a human right and goes to the heart of a country's wellbeing – we need to make more noise as to why it's necessary if we want to see the change we deserve.