Media fuels feelings of isolation and anger among LGBT youth

How has the media and especially social media impacted the well being of LGBT youth? Based on a new combined Trevor Project survey, it appears far more negatively than we realized. The headline by LGBTQ Nation says it all, "LGBTQ youth face more stress from police brutality & COVID-19."

LGBTQ Nation asserts, "1 in 5 LGBTQ youth have faced police harassment or mistreatment by police, compared to just 1 in 7 for non-LGBTQ youth." The results come from two surveys performed by Morning Consult on behalf of the Trevor Project, conducted in July, as an online survey targeting 13 to 24 year olds. The survey included 1,200 people evenly split between LGBT and non-LGBT.

Overall, between 53 percent and 69 percent of LGBT youth report feeling depressed and anxious related to COVID as opposed to 29 percent of non-LGBT youth. This is in context of both groups reporting 36 percent as knowing someone diagnosed with COVID and 18 to 19 percent as knowing someone who died from the disease. When asked who they trusted to provide accurate information on COVID, 88 percent of LGBT said they did not trust the president, with 73 percent of non-LGBT agreeing. However, only 6 to 8 percent of both groups said they trusted the media "a lot."

Who do they trust then? As LGBTQ Nation summarizes, "More than one in three LGBTQ young people reported a distrust of health information on COVID-19 provided by their family, compared to one in five straight/cisgender youth. Both groups reported more trust in their teachers and medical professionals."

The survey regarding policing is even more concerning. The survey states that white, straight cisgender youth are the only group who say they trust the police with 71 percent of LGBT youth saying they do not. Only 10 percent of LGBT youth stated they strongly agree the police in their neighborhood are there to protect them, 29 percent said they somewhat feel that way.

As the media report suggests, 20 percent of LGBT youth and 14 percent of non-LGBT youth reported being harassed or mistreated by the police. Interestingly nearly the same percentage of both reported participating in Black Lives Matter protests. In the COVID survey, 76 percent of LGBT and 59 percent of non-LGBT stated they did not trust the police for information related to COVID.

Most telling, 73 percent of LGBT youth reported "a lot" or "some" to the following question, "How much have recent news reports, images, and videos about violence against Black people in the United States negatively impacted your well-being?"

Trevor Project CEO Amit Paley stated, "This year has been difficult for everyone." Paley continued "but it has been especially challenging for LGBTQ youth, and particularly Black LGBTQ youth, who have found themselves at the crossroads of multiple mounting tragedies." One particularly interesting question asked, "How much has COVID-19 impacted your ability to express your LGBTQ identity?" Fifteen to 22 percent of LGBT youth reported "a lot."

What this survey tells me, however, with 82 percent of LGBT and 63 percent of non-LGBT reporting a strong support for Black Lives Matter, is that the media is a much bigger influence than the survey wants to believe. While these and similar surveys always begin on the assumption they are capturing the thoughts and feelings of a random sampling of LGBT people and therefore reflect common views and experiences, they ignore their own biases. Even the wording which positions a leftwing view of events is impossible to respond to objectively.

Did the 14 to 20 percent of 13 to 24 year olds who attended Black Lives Matter protests also feel harassed and mistreated by the police? The survey implies this percentage of young people simply face this threat in their regular lives, but there is no context provided. It is entirely designed to validate the emotions reflected in the survey itself and nothing more.

Upwards of 63 percent of LGBT youth said their primary emotion when discussing racism against black people is anger. But is that anger directed at the real sources of racism or simply what the media and activists have told them to be angry about? From the other responses, it seems the emotion is very intentionally manufactured.

This also gives us a window into why the youth surveyed feel the way they do, with a particular interest in those age 13 to 17. They respond to what they see in images, news stories and social media posts but not necessarily what is true and accurate. They respond to images of "violence against black people," but what is this referencing and how often do we find the visual story presented to be severely lacking upon closer inspection? Both surveys reflect the power of the media to influence the feelings of those most impressionable to highly emotional and carefully manufactured propaganda.

Young people are far more viscerally impacted by their emotions and they get lost in the passion and promise of joining a larger fight against injustice and making a change in the world. They do not always stop to consider context and perspective.

Today they are being fueled by aggressive activism that wants to keep them angry and afraid. They live in a constant state of anxiety with drops into depression when the high fades and they believe they are oppressed because that is what their media tells them. They are being used as weapons in the left's political war and a generation of young people will remember fighting against demons that never existed. LGBT media seems intent on ensuring they always feel afraid and angry.