New studies show how Black LGBTQ+ youth navigate discrimination. Advocates are mapping out ways to help

By Kate Sosin, The 19th | Stacker Rena Li for the 19th (Stacker) – Twenty-one percent of Black trans, nonbinary and questioning youth have made a suicide attempt in the last year, nearly half said they felt unsafe at school, and 64 percent said they had encountered transphobia, according to two recent reports that advocates say should serve as a call to action for LGBTQ+ communities. The 19th takes a closer look at these reports. At the end of February, The Trevor Project, an LGBTQ+ youth crisis organization, released new data on the mental health of Black LGBTQ+ youth. The report pulls together responses from more than 1,500 kids who were part of its larger 2023 survey that examined mental health among queer youth.  Several days later, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the country’s largest LGBTQ+ advocacy organization, published separate data on how LGBTQ+ Black youth are navigating relationships in their lives as they come out.  Both reports detail the challenges Black LGBTQ+ youth face, and Derrick Matthews, director of research and science at the Trevor Project, said they offer important information on how to support youth. “I know a lot of folks are really stepping up to the plate...