Rural LGBTQ youth least likely to feel accepted locally

Proportion of youth who described their community as
somewhat or very unaccepting of LGBTQ people

LGBTQ youth in rural areas and small towns were far more likely than their suburban or urban counterparts to say their community is somewhat or very unaccepting of LGBTQ people. That's according to a recent survey of nearly 35,000 such youth by The Trevor Project, a nonprofit suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning youth.

About 69 percent of rural youth surveyed said their community was not accepting of LGBTQ people, compared to 44% of those living in a small city or small town, 26% who live just outside a large city, and 19% who live in a large city, Kristi Eaton reports for The Daily Yonder.

The survey "also found that LGBTQ youth in rural areas and small towns had slightly greater odds of experiencing symptoms of depression, considering suicide, and attempting suicide compared to those in urban and suburban areas," Eaton reports.

LB Prevette told Eaton that she left Wilkes County, N.C., after being attacked at age 17. She said that the trouble isn't that most people don't accept LGBTQ people, but that the unaccepting people are the loudest.

Another young woman from the Hopi Nation noted to Eaton that Black, Indigenous and people of color who are LGBTQ often face even greater barriers to acceptance.