The gap between LGBT+ and non-LGBT+ Americans also widened in that time frame, going from 1.8 per cent 2014 to 6.9 per cent in 2020. Even seemingly small increases in extreme distress are important, the study notes, because such distress is uncommon among the wider population.
“A clear association exists between the 2016 election and the changeover to a decisively anti-LGBT administration and the worsening mental health of sexual and gender minority (SGM) adults, although a completely causal relationship cannot be fully established,” said Masanori Kuroki, an associate economic professor at Arkansas Tech University.
Donald Trump’s presidency was marked by frequent and persistent attacks on LGBT+ rights and protections, including banning trans people from the military, withdrawing Title IX protections for trans students and reversing plans to count LGBT+ people on the census.
His administration also fought to deny US citizenship to the children of same-sex parents, gave federal adoption agencies freedom to reject LGBT+ couples, and actively covered up examples of homophobic torture and persecution in global human rights reports.
By GLAAD‘s count Trump attacked LGBT+ people a total of 180 times during his four years in the White House, fostering a rise in homophobic rhetoric that has led to record highs in hate crimes.
Tragically this culminated with the final full year of his presidency being named the deadliest for transgender murders since records began.
Kuroki’s study cites Trump’s many attacks on LGBT+ legislation, saying the possibility of removing recently gained rights and protections “might be more damaging to LGBT+ people’s mental well-being than simply not having equal rights in the first place”.
He concluded that “the findings do suggest that the Biden administration may have inherited higher rates of mental distress among LGBT+ people” than it would “if Donald Trump had not run and won the 2016 election”.
The gap between LGBT+ and non-LGBT+ Americans also widened in that time frame, going from 1.8 per cent 2014 to 6.9 per cent in 2020. Even seemingly small increases in extreme distress are important, the study notes, because such distress is uncommon among the wider population.
“A clear association exists between the 2016 election and the changeover to a decisively anti-LGBT administration and the worsening mental health of sexual and gender minority (SGM) adults, although a completely causal relationship cannot be fully established,” said Masanori Kuroki, an associate economic professor at Arkansas Tech University.
Donald Trump’s presidency was marked by frequent and persistent attacks on LGBT+ rights and protections, including banning trans people from the military, withdrawing Title IX protections for trans students and reversing plans to count LGBT+ people on the census.
His administration also fought to deny US citizenship to the children of same-sex parents, gave federal adoption agencies freedom to reject LGBT+ couples, and actively covered up examples of homophobic torture and persecution in global human rights reports.
By GLAAD‘s count Trump attacked LGBT+ people a total of 180 times during his four years in the White House, fostering a rise in homophobic rhetoric that has led to record highs in hate crimes.
Tragically this culminated with the final full year of his presidency being named the deadliest for transgender murders since records began.
Kuroki’s study cites Trump’s many attacks on LGBT+ legislation, saying the possibility of removing recently gained rights and protections “might be more damaging to LGBT+ people’s mental well-being than simply not having equal rights in the first place”.
He concluded that “the findings do suggest that the Biden administration may have inherited higher rates of mental distress among LGBT+ people” than it would “if Donald Trump had not run and won the 2016 election”.
