People from minoritized groups experience chronically high levels of everyday stress because of their social position. This is called minority stress, and can lead to poor physical and mental health outcomes.

For LGBTQ+ people these stressors include:

• Interpersonal prejudice and discrimination
• Internalized homophobia
• Identity concealment
• Expectations of rejection even from primary social supports

Young adults whose families supported their gay or transgender identity had better overall physical and mental health (Ryan et al., 2009)

• Higher self-esteem
• Less likely to be depressed (8x less likely)
• Lower substance use rates (3x less likely)
• Decreased suicidality rates (8.5x less)