LGBTQ+ women often suffer from mental health conditions that disproportionately impact them and they face substantial barriers in accessing care for treatment.

LGTBQ+ women have higher rates of trauma and other mental health problems, according to a new report from SDI Productions/E+/Getty Images, according to this new survey. To view full article: CLICK HERE (SDI Productions/E+/Getty Images).
“Trauma burden in this community is enormous,” according to Jaime Grant, one of the researchers involved with conducting the Urvashi Vaid National LGBTQ+ Women’s Community Survey – named for late lesbian activist Urvashi Vaid – released Tuesday from their nationwide survey with over 5,000 LGBTQ+ respondents identifying as women (conducted between June 2021-2022) conducted between June and July. Analysis also discovered substantial health disparities, mental illnesses and barriers to care that LGBTQ+ women suffer.
These findings come over a decade after Grant discovered in earlier research that transgender people attempted suicide at nine times higher than national rates. Grant led the National Transgender Discrimination Survey in 2011, using its findings to improve medical treatments for transgender people and hopes this report can do the same thing for LGBTQ+ women. Survey results indicated that respondents experienced significantly higher rates of mental illness compared with the general population; nearly half (48%) have either anxiety (44%) or depression (51%). According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, approximately 19% of U.S. adult have an anxiety disorder; and 18% have depression according to CDC estimates. This survey also identified differences by race: Black and Indigenous women of color reported higher rates of disability and attempted suicide than other women. “It is disheartening to witness such high trauma rates,” states Christina Dyar of Ohio State University’s Department of Gender & Women Studies who studies health disparities within LGBTQ+ communities – although she wasn’t involved with producing this report herself.
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Under-utilization of health care system The survey also sought to identify barriers that prevent LGBTQ+ women from accessing quality health care services. Research indicates that 77% of the U.S. population have access to primary care physicians; however, only 55% of LGBTQ+ women responded in this survey reported being under their care. Black and indigenous women of color were more than twice as likely to report lacking access to quality healthcare than their white counterparts, with cost and discrimination often being listed as key reasons they did not seek out medical help when sick or needy. Dyar notes there has been limited research conducted to ascertain what exactly hinders access to care for LGBTQ+ women, so “these numbers are wonderful”. “Historically speaking, medical spaces have not been welcoming for us,” notes Savy Elahian who led data analysis for this report and serves as program coordinator at the National LGBTQ Institute of Intimate Partner Violence. There has been experimentation on people as well as medical racism. Understand the history and its effects is vitally important, particularly for LGBTQ+ people of color. According to Elahian, medical fields lag behind in serving them properly resulting in patients feeling uncomfortable or unsupported by providers and can leave patients feeling marginalized and disconnected from services provided to them. These feelings of discomfort could decrease their likelihood of returning when in need, making preventative medicine increasingly dangerous. According to a 2017 survey, 14% of respondents had never had a pap smear and all respondents were nearly twice as likely to develop cervical cancer than women living in general U.S. population. Furthermore, an independent 2022 study discovered that almost one out of every three lesbian, gay and bisexual women overdue for cervical cancer screening were overdue for screenings. “LGBTQ+ women and gender-diverse people are missing out on preventive healthcare and holistic wellness, according to Elahian. While community care may help address certain disparities in health outcomes, community centers or organizations often do not possess enough resources.
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“[LGBTQ+ people] still must operate within these larger health systems,” Grant and Elahian note, calling their findings inevitable. Institutional Change and Community Care Report authors wish for medical practitioners to learn from these results. Elahian stated, “This data from various sources – from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, doctor offices and medical universities – should be carefully taken into consideration by everyone.” Grant noted how the 2011 National Transgender Discrimination Survey and subsequent follow up studies provided tangible numbers to quantify suffering, changed medical school curricula accordingly, and provided models and resources for other researchers – she hopes the same thing happens here as well. Urvashi Vaid National LGBTQ+ Women’s Community Survey had previously been led by community activists and researchers; now however, its leadership will transition to an established organization so as to further its reach and impact. On Tuesday, National Center for Lesbian Rights made public their decision to host the survey, saying this move “is monumentally significant to them and their work. Without knowing exactly what’s happening within their communities we simply are unable to fully advocate on their behalf.” Imani Rupert-Gordon stated, the organization president: “Without knowing exactly what’s going on there we cannot fully represent or advocate on their behalf” The Center, a litigation organization, plans on using survey findings as policy recommendations. Grant and her team hope for these conclusions to reach beyond just doctor offices and courts – they would like them to impact all areas. “Our own people need access to this data so they know the current state of our health,” according to Elahian. To achieve that goal, they made their findings freely accessible for all and planned on disseminating through LGBTQ+ community organizations. Dyar stressed the benefits of community-led surveys when conducting academic health disparity research – they tend to reach more respondents while academic research often ends up behind paywalls which make results harder to access compared with community surveys that lead to responses faster and can sometimes even create paywalls preventing findings reaching those intended. Academic health disparity research often ends up behind paywalls causing further frustration when our findings don’t get out there
Elahian hopes that through community education, individuals will develop the tools to advocate for themselves in medical settings – just another sign of how this resilient group’s strength lies with strong community ties.