For LGBT History Month 2025 - Mental Health and the LGBTQ+ community

February is LGBT History Month, so I thought I’d talk a little about mental health in the LGBTQ+ community from my own perspective as a counsellor.

First of all a reminder that the LGBTQ+ community isn’t a secret society like Hydra. If the labels don’t apply to you, it’s your siblings, your favourite aunts and uncles, friends, work colleagues; people all around you every day just getting on with things like everyone else.

Research by Stonewall in 2018 found that the LGBTQ+ community is at a higher risk of experiencing common mental health problems than the general population. Half of LGBT people had experienced depression, 3 in 5 (61%) had experienced significant anxiety, 1 in 8 aged 18-24 had attempted suicide, and almost half of trans people in the study had thought about taking their own life in the last year.

Well why is that? Unsurprisingly, experiences of discrimination and harassment in day to day life, rejection from one’s family and friends and being subjected to hate crimes and incidents can have a negative impact on mental well-being. Not to be facetious, but it’s really that obvious.

While same-sex marriage now feels a bit like it’s always been here, it’s only been 

fairly recently that same sex relationships were given legal recognition and protection. 2004 for Civil Partnerships, and nearly another ten years before Equal Marriage in 2013. That’s almost hard to imagine, isn’t it? 

When I was at school there was Section 28. Section 28 of the Local Government Act 1988 prohibited the “promotion” of homosexuality by teaching or by publishing material. What this meant was schools couldn’t openly support gay kids. Teachers couldn’t answer basic questions unless they were willing to risk their jobs (shoutout to Mrs Williamson at my own school for doing it anyway). There was a whole generation of kids lacking basic information about themselves and internalising societal-wide homophobia, and despite Section 28’s repeal in 2003, thousands of those kids, now adults, are still dealing with the impact that did to them today. 

Right now, it’s trans people who are in the crosshairs of the right-wing media and it’s exactly the same nonsense as it was in the 90s and before with ugly discrimination hiding behind claims about ‘protecting’ children. History has shown us that it was wrong then, and it’s wrong now. It’s inevitable that, just like Section 28, it will pass. But just as before we can reasonably imagine that counsellors will be helping trans adults deal with the long term impacts of this on their mental health in years to come. 

If you would like to support charities working to change things for the better for trans youth please consider donating to:

• Mermaids   https://mermaidsuk.org.uk/

• LGBT Youth Scotland   https://lgbtyouth.org.uk/

• Equality Network  https://www.equality-network.org/

• Stonewall Scotland https://www.stonewall.org.uk/stonewall-scotland

For more on LGBT History Month 2025 visit: https://lgbtplushistorymonth.co.uk/lgbt-history-month-2025/

If you would like to talk to me about working on your mental health, you can complete the online submission form or contact me directly at: mckellarCBT@gmail.com