Last year, a nationwide mental health survey found that a stunning 42% of LGBTQ youth considered suicide in the past year. The COVID-19 pandemic, which has increased teen suicides attempts overall, likely played a role in that. But the survey of 35,000 lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning individuals between the ages of 13 and 24 by The Trevor Project, a nonprofit focused on LGBTQ youth suicide prevention, points to other factors as well: 94% of those surveyed said recent politics had worsened their outlook and 75% said they had suffered some form of gender discrimination.
Under these circumstances, one would assume that parents, friends, relatives, neighbors, school personnel and anyone else who has regular contact with LGBTQ youth would be scrambling to find opportunities to comfort, to accept, to be inclusive and affirming. One small way that can be done is to display a rainbow flag, a symbol of pride in the gay community that has been around since the mid-1980s.
And then there is the Carroll County Public Schools Board of Education.
