Salerno, John P., et al. "Sexual and Gender Minority Stress Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: Implications for LGBTQ Young Persons’ Mental Health and Well-Being." Public Health Reports (2020): 0033354920954511.
Population-level increases in psychopathology and other negative mental health outcomes, including posttraumatic stress, depression, anxiety, and elevated substance use, are directly linked to large-scale disasters in the United States.1 Thus, it is unsurprising that the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is seriously impacting population-level mental health in the United States, especially among socially disadvantanged, young, and racial and ethnic minority persons.2 The indirect psychological harms of the COVID-19 pandemic for those who belong to minoritized communities are complicated, exacerbated, and compounded by experiences and stressors specific to their marginalized social identities. In this regard, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning (LGBTQ) adolescents and young adults have received limited public health attention.3-6 This commentary aims to provide a nuanced perspective on the potential indirect mental health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis on LGBTQ young persons.
International research suggests that heteronormativity and cisnormativity in practice and policy-level response to large-scale disasters systematically ignores the needs of LGBTQ populations.7 Globally, issues relevant to LGBTQ communities in disaster contexts (eg, discrimination in accessing emergency government services because of LGBTQ status) are largely unreported, and government agencies historically fail to support LGBTQ-affirming interventions during recovery efforts.7 International guidelines and policy frameworks on disaster response and recovery have further failed to consider the needs of LGBTQ populations.7 The dearth of existing research on LGBTQ communities and disaster response in the United States speaks to the invisibility of LGBTQ young persons in the current public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.
Despite limited attention to the mental health needs of LGBTQ young persons during the COVID-19 pandemic, LGBTQ young persons may face unique mental health challenges6,8 driven by the overlapping experience of pandemic-related9-11 and sexual and gender minority–related3,11,12 stressors.