The Crucial Role of Family in the Survival of LGBTQ+ Individuals

Marketplace Story

Dr. Joe Kort

Published: August 5, 2025 | Last Updated: August 5, 2025

For LGBTQ+ youth struggling with mental health crises, family acceptance isn't just helpful - it can be lifesaving. LGB youth who come from highly rejecting families are 8.4 times as likely to have attempted suicide as LGB peers who reported no or low levels of family rejection, according research by The Family Acceptance Project. The Trevor Project has also documented that LGB youth are almost five times more likely to attempt suicide and nearly three times more likely to seriously contemplate suicide compared to their heterosexual peers. Among transgender adults, 40% report having made a suicide attempt, with 92% of those attempts occurring before age 25.

These stark statistics underscore why family acceptance is such a critical protective factor. When LGBTQ+ youth face rejection at home on top of societal discrimination, the risks compound dramatically. However, when families provide acceptance and support, they can serve as a powerful buffer against these negative outcomes.

Do you want an LGBT child or a dead child?

These numbers aren't just statistics - they represent a stark choice families face. This question has become a popular meme online, but the sentiment is supported by research. High levels of family rejection lead to youth who are not only more prone to suicide, but six times more likely to experience high levels of depression, three times more likely to try illegal drugs and at much greater risk for HIV and STI.

Research confirms that family acceptance is the most powerful protective factor against negative physical and mental health outcomes for LGBTQ+ children — but that doesn't mean it's easy. When a child comes out as LGBTQ+, the family often finds itself going into the closet. Affirming parents and family members must navigate going against cultural norms and face the prospect of their own coming-out process to neighbors, extended family and friends.

Unfortunately, our nation and its current leadership appears to be trying to put the toothpaste — the growing acceptance of diverse gender identities and acceptance — back into the toothpaste tube. Children are not being "groomed" or "seduced" into some nefarious gender identity; they are born with it. Clinical experience shows most LGBTQ+ people realize their identity in early childhood. That's reality, not ideology or propaganda.

What, then, is needed?

LGBTQ+ youth often face devastating mental health challenges, but families hold the power to change outcomes. Parents and caregivers must find compassion when their child questions their identity and initiate honest, supportive conversations. The alternative — exclusion, suffering, and potential death — is unacceptable.

Not sure where to begin? Seek support from resources like The Trevor Project, Stand with Trans' Lifeline Library and local LGBTQ+ organizations and consider family therapy with compassionate professionals experienced in LGBTQ+ issues.

This article is a sponsored editorial produced in collaboration with CRSH. Pride Source journalism is made possible with the support and partnership of advertisers like CRSH.