Friday, June 8, 2012

New Poll: Many LGBT Teens are Unhappy


Human Rights Campaign has gathered some incredible info about LGBT teens and it's not so great. They face some interesting odds that impact their well-being.

The Advocate reports
Some 67% of straight kids described themselves as happy, but only 37% of LGBT kids could say the same, found the report from the Human Rights Campaign. They do seem to believe that "It Gets Better," as the viral video campaign targeting them has promised. The survey found that 83% of LGBT youth believe they will one day be happy.

For many, the road to happiness leads out of town. The survey found that only 49% said they could be happy wherever they live now. And that could have a lot to do with how they describe their current circumstances.

Although 56% said they are out to their families, a third of respondents said their family is not accepting of them. More than half of LGBT youth said they'd been verbally harassed, and 47% said they don't "fit in." By comparison, just 25% of straight student said they'd been called names and 16% of straight youth said they didn't fit in.
I really thought things would be different for them in 2012. While they are optimistic for the future, they are still carrying a heavy burden.

I feel like we have barely moved forward from the days when I was a teen.

Read the full report here

2 comments:

Roger Poladopoulos said...

With all the negative messages of hate being uttered in the name of religion, this news isn't surprising.

fetaby said...

The advancements that I see all have to do with visibility rather than actual acceptance.

The increased visibility does force the issue and make people define their opinions and stances, but it doesn't necessarily decrease the amount of people who are homophobic.

Fortunately, people do change.

The Stuff

My photo
Viktor is a small town southern boy living in Los Angeles. You can find him on Twitter, writing about pop culture, politics, and comics. He’s the creator of the graphic novel StrangeLore and currently getting back into screenwriting.