Being a gay guy who is extremely feminine while having a mother who grew up catholic and believes in God as I do, I’m lucky to have a parent who loves me unconditionally. Even though I have this privilege, many other LGBTQ+ Youth don’t have the luxury to feel safe in their homes, school grounds or even outdoors because they know who they are. The rates of young men, women, and non-binary people losing their lives, sense of happiness and self worth because they were treated unfairly is mind bogglingly heart breaking. Thinking of how it was back then during the 1980s, especially during the AIDS pandemic, it’s sad to think of how many lives were lost. As someone who is gay, I should be obligated to stand up for awareness of young gays and lesbians alike because even though we might not have the same taste in people, we’re all family to each other one way or another. Going between the past and present of homelessness of LGBTQ+ Youth, there can be shown a bit of awareness that needs to be brought to the light.

 

On Hulu, there is a show called “POSE”, created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Steven Canals, which goes back into the 1980s, specifically during the AIDS pandemic in New York City. While all creators helped make “POSE”, they were all differently affected in different ways.  “POSE” is about going through the lives of gay men, transgender women,  lesbian women, transgender men and how everyone had to do something to live. All of the characters had to fight for what they deserved especially when it came to a Ball. Balls were contests that had categories where people had to wear specific outfits, dance and compete for trophies, signifying you were that bitch and no one could mess with you. Trans women would be called cross dressers and for gay men, fags… Saddening. The first few scenes show how women and men are mistreated heavily by not only others but even themselves because they weren’t treated fairly between each other. At the same time, there is also what we call, reading of course always happening because someone always has something to say of course. For example, there’s a character named Damon who’s a dancer but he’s also gay and is ridiculed and thrown out of his home by his mother and father after finding a magazine in his bedroom of hot men being on it. Another character being Blanca, who is a trans woman who found out that she has the HIV Virus. It’s scary back then because of the fact that there was no sure way of making HIV/AIDS slow down its effects or anything of the sort. The show enlightens people that things happened to all these characters that are real life in their eyes and how messed up this reality really is.

 

Pose is a show that goes deep in depth about what happened to gays, lesbians, transgenders and everything in between and how life was back in the 1980s. It isn’t as horrible as it is today but sometimes, things such as murder could occur so easily against someone who was part of the LGBTQ+ Community. Damon and Blanca have different experiences but they go through similar horrible things. Damon was beaten before he left his biological parents home. As for Blanca, she was rejected by her bio mother and kicked out. They were both hurt but on different degrees and under different circumstances of course. With what happened to them, as characters, it’s a depiction of what actually has happened to people in the 1980s, with what they had to endure and struggle through with the injustices happening against them as well.

 

When it comes to present day endangerment for LGBTQ+ Youth, it could be even more horrible because of how the world is in the present day. A friend of mine and my boyfriend can both be prime examples of what I mean to say. It can also support what is said by The Trevor Project and what they have as a survey from 2024. The Trevor Project is an organization that is a non-profit to support those of the LGBTQ+ community and gives them services that support them to stay alive and be able to do what they want to do. For those under the Suicide Risk, 39% have thought of it as for 12% have attempted it. Even though my boyfriend hasn’t had any attempts as of late, he has before and I’ve been able to help with just being there for him. Not even just that, but there is also an Anxiety and Depression survey where 64% had experienced symptoms of anxiety as for depression being 48%. My best friend, who I will not disclose his name because he is closeted, is also gay and goes through the same thing with Anxiety and Depression, but feels happiness when around me and our friends because he doesn’t have to fake who he is. My boyfriend also has anxiety and depression but also had to be kicked out while in a psych ward because of self harm attempts. Even I have anxiety but not to the same degree others might have honestly. Everyone has a form of a struggle they have to deal with in their own way and it’s saddening to think of.

 

The Trevor Project is a LGBTQ+ Awareness group that helps make it aware that the community of Gays needs help whether it be mental, physical, and emotional. They also have a hot line for people who may attempt unalivement. They work so hard to make sure that someone stays alive and realizes they can have help no matter what happens to them and that someone will always be there for you. The statistics shown earlier are only part of the survey but show how much people need so much more help than most really think and what needs to be done or what could  be done to help them.

 

What people do to themselves when they feel unhappy, not filled with enjoyment or anything worth living for is heart breaking to think about enough honestly. When people have this sense of feeling inside of themselves, they usually turn to drastic measures and try to do something to themselves such as suicide. Suicide within those who are part of the LGBTQ+ Community usually commit this action because they feel like they can’t live because of the discrimination, the ridicule and the horrible treatment they deal with, especially transgender men and women. From a research report by Jody L. Herman, Taylor N.T. Brown and Ann P. Haas, called “SUICIDE THOUGHTS AND ATTEMPTS AMONG TRANSGENDER ADULTS: Findings from the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey” they researched about suicide being written in literature and found some disturbing percentages. In the text they compiled together, they wrote, “In peer-reviewed publications and in other literature from 1997 to 2016 with findings regarding suicide thoughts and attempts among transgender people. They found a prevalence of lifetime suicide ideation of 55.5 percent (ranging from 28.9% to 96.5% across studies) and lifetime suicide attempts of 28.9 percent (ranging from 10.7% to 52.4% across studies). Additionally, they found 50.6 percent prevalence of suicide ideation in the past year (ranging from 30.8% to 80.2% across studies) and 10.7 percent prevalence of suicide attempts in the past year (ranging from 4.2% to 10.0% across studies).” (Herman, Brown, and Haas, 4) From 1997 to 2016, so many horrible thoughts that made those people think of killing themselves brings into perspective that there shouldn’t be this kind of thought process for anyone no matter what. That there should be help to those who need the help the most or even more than some others. The mental health of people from then to now is different for sure because of the change in times but there is always something that brings trouble to everyone but some get what they want much more or much sooner than those who really need the help first.

 

When it comes to the difference of the 1980s to today with the mental health of LGBTQ+ Youth, there is a different thought process between then and now. Specifically, with those who had HIV/AIDS back then, it was a definite death sentence and nothing could be done to slow it or even get rid of it which led to many just rotting away with no ambition. As of today though, there is so much more medicine that protects people from the illness and makes it possible for people to live with it if they have it and still be safe with their partners as well.

 

I care about what LGBTQ+ people go through no matter what. Whether I know them personally or don’t know a thing about them, I will always continue to fight for what we as a community need especially that of LGBTQ+ Youth and what they need. What we can do from back then in the 1980s, is continue to push forward, make the right decisions to support people in what they need, and just have compassion in our hearts to think about what others could be going through. Especially those who are young, queer, and learning about who they are, what they are, what they like and what they want to be.

 

Work Cited Page

 

1. “POSE” by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Steven Canals
2. “2024 Survey on the Mental Health of LGBTQ+ Young People in New York” by The Trevor Project
3. “SUICIDE THOUGHTS AND ATTEMPTS AMONG TRANSGENDER ADULTS: Findings from the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey” by Jody L. Herman, Taylor N.T. Brown and Ann P. Haas