A West Australian mental health organisation says there has been a rise in the number of people accessing its services.
Headspace in Albany said there was a 6 per cent increase in the percentage of LGBTQIA+ clients, bringing the total to 33 per cent.
"We've only hit 30 per cent once before in the history of headspace Albany in the 12 years we've been here," manager Andrew Wenzel said.
Mr Wenzel said the latest spike followed debates in federal parliament about religious freedom in schools.
"We're wondering whether those higher rates of statistics in February were as a result of that debate going on in Canberra," he said.
"I think legislation … designed to protect the most vulnerable members of our community, which are young people, should protect all of those young people equally.
More non-binary clients
Mr Wenzel said it was the first time the organisation had recorded an increase in the percentage of non-binary people accessing its services.
He said young women and men typically needed between five and seven appointments with headspace, but for people who identify as sexually diverse, that number is higher.
"It's a couple of appointments higher — it's closer to eight," Mr Wenzel said.
"For young people who identify as neither male nor female, so the young trans community or gender queer community, we know that they tend to need about 14 appointments, on average — so about double the number of appointments."
Albany Pride committee member Tiger Bird said the group was not surprised by the increase in numbers.
"It was about schools being able to turn people away … surely that goes against the principles of education," they said.
They said discussions like the religious freedom bill directly affected the LGBTQIA+ community.
"Our community already have elevated mental health problems, statistically, and that leads to other things later on in life," they said.
"It creates anxiety in adults — in young people that's magnified, because they're already dealing with enough.
