I urge Mainers to continue supporting gender-affirming care by voting for Harris-Walz in November.

Before I retired as a clinical social worker, I had several teenage LGBTQ clients who questioned their gender identity. They were clearly struggling. I saw them for their chosen gender, helped them tell their families, and helped them find resources to support them in their school and community. Their transformation from deeply unhappy, awkward teens to happier, less stressed teens was truly remarkable.

As the 2023 Maine Integrated Youth Health Survey makes clear, LGBTQ students are at higher risk than heterosexual students for suicidal ideation and being targets of unsafe behavior. In middle schools across the state, 83% of heterosexual students feel safe at school, but only 18% of LGBTQ students do. Even in high school, more heterosexual students feel safe (88%) than LGBTQ students (74%).

LGBTQ high school students are three times more likely to be targeted for forced sexual favors than heterosexual students, and suicidal ideation is three times higher among LGBTQ students than heterosexual students in both middle and high school.

Donald Trump’s Project 2025 would remove existing protections for LGBTQ students, redefining “sex” to mean only the biological sex assigned at birth – greatly intensifying the pressure LGBTQ students are already under. I’ve seen their suffering. Please do the right thing.

Faith Barnes
Brunswick

Related Headlines

Join the Conversation

Please sign into your Press Herald account to participate in conversations below. If you do not have an account, you can register or subscribe. Questions? Please see our FAQs.

filed under: