The College Campus VS LGBTQ Mental Health
Higher education is an invaluable resource for anyone with the privilege to seek it.
Whether you attend a community college, public university, or private ivy league, having a post-secondary education is a great advantage in today’s world.
Despite its benefits, we cannot ignore the plentiful issues surrounding higher education. Student loan debt, classism, accessibility, and many other problems deserve extensive coverage.
In this post, I will solely focus on the impacts colleges have on LGBTQ+ people and their mental health.
The Issue on the Table
College can be a freeing, transformative, and enriching experience. Many students encounter LGBTQ+ culture for the first time in college. LGBTQ+ people from conservative families may be getting the first taste of being out.
Overall, college is a great place to expand your knowledge of the world outside your bubble.
Furthermore, it has been established in research that progressive values tend to increase with a person’s level of education.
We’ve also seen an increase in acceptance and tolerance of the LGBTQ+ community on college campuses in the last 20 years.
But there is always another side to the coin.
No matter how progressive college campuses may claim to be, we are seeing a chronic lack of transgender inclusion in the structure of universities (both figuratively and literally).
For literal structure, finding gender-neutral bathrooms on US campuses can be challenging. Out of the 3,982 institutions in the United States, only about 150 have gender-neutral restrooms.
That equals 3.8% of all public, private, two and four-year colleges and universities.
Transphobia is also prevalent in post-secondary athletics. As of 2022, “57 colleges and universities have a trans-inclusive athletic policy.” [1]
That is about 1% of all institutions.
In terms of housing, only about 425 post-secondary schools have gender-inclusive dorms. This is the structure we tend to see the highest allowances of transgender inclusivity, with a frequency of 10.7%.
Lastly, around 150 institutions provide professionally staffed LGBTQ+ campus centers, per the Consortium of Higher Education Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Resource Professionals.
This gross discrimination impacts the daily lives of LGBTQ+ students. It reinforces feelings of being an outsider, keeping them from getting the college experience.
When an environment that was created to foster personal growth, relationships, and new perspectives fails to evoke those sentiments, LGBTQ+ people suffer physically and mentally.
The American Council on Educated reported that LGBTQ+ students face “harassment in classrooms…widespread cyberbullying, and...racism and sexism through homophobic and transphobic harassment.” [2]
This threat can significantly impact an affected student’s morale, wellbeing, learning quality, and mental health security. In consequence, they should be encouraged to seek out mental health aid.
This reveals another issue.
Within on-campus mental healthcare, “LGBQQ students reported high overall stress and unmet treatment need. LGBQQ students also endorsed barriers to accessing on-campus care at higher rates.” [3]
The amount of harassment and bullying varies by university. Students at institutions with high levels of anti-LGBTQ sentiments or studying in states without LGBTQ+ protections have a worse go.
Students in these circumstances report high levels of stress and feel less supported by their university. These same students may be a part of the 67% of LGBTQ students who reported feeling isolated or lonely in 2021.
These situations may also contribute to why 55% of LGBTQ+ pupils reported feeling hopeless.
A good amount of universities are trying to minimize the issue. Some institutions report that their counselors participate in outreach to the school’s LGBTQ+ population.
However, these efforts have not been proven entirely effective by current research. In fact, a lack of data may be one cause of the issue itself.
Few studies examine the effectiveness of campus-based mental health services for the LGBTQ+ community. Without evidence-based techniques, we can expect a high rate of relapses, incomplete treatment, and unhelpful counselors.
This lends credence to the idea that more than a Safe Space sticker or flyer on a bulletin board should be available to students.
Universities need to dedicate more resources to investigating the best ways to improve mental healthcare for LGBTQ+ students.
The Role of Government
The pronounced inequality we have explored should not be tolerated by students or the government.
Indeed, Title XI of the Education Amendments clearly states that it “prohibits discrimination based on sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity) in educational programs.”
Title XI applies to recruitment, admissions, housing, classes, health, insurance, financial and employment aid, and research. Yet, there are clearly still aspects of university life within these categories that engage in discrimination.
If students are entitled to these civil rights, why is discrimination still present in higher education?
Well, the answer is not cut and dry. It depends on many factors, including exemptions given on a school-by-school basis.
Certain religious institutions are exempt from discriminatory policies. Private universities that request exclusion for special circumstances can also be excluded. None of these so-called justifications are reasonable. Human rights are human rights.
If the government is playing fast and loose with our civil rights, are these liberties no more than a smokescreen?
Our Role
The failure of the government to properly enforce Title XI leaves us no choice but to not rely on such mandates. We should instead focus our efforts on the school policies themselves.
One effective measure college students can engage with is advocating for policy and process audits. This is when a committee or group examines how a policy or process is conducted versus how they think it is. Audits can help identify where the system fails, openings for improvement, and areas doing well.
Speaking of committees, students and staff should consider forming a leadership group to help identify and resolve discrimination and mental health concerns within the LGBTQ+ student body.
Additionally, petitions are a strong force used by students. Start a petition for gender-neutral housing and bathrooms, recognized committees, and funds for mental health research.
These measures can encourage the university itself to take action and solidify non-discriminatory policies, conduct research on LGBTQ+ mental health services, and establish consequences for noncompliance.
The ultimatum is to create new policies and form a widespread college culture of inclusivity. The ripple effects of such achievement would promote positive mental health outcomes amongst LGBTQ+ college attendees.
It would also inspire future generations to fight to keep the new policies in place and continue protecting LGBTQ+ mental health equality and human rights.
If you are not in college or university and wish to support this cause, share this blog post on your social media to promote the spread of accurate and relevant information.
You can also join us! Become a Community Advocate for LGBTQ+ Mental Health by writing your own blog and listening to or being a guest on The CALM Cast.
But however you choose to fight back, remember to continue educating yourself every day. Knowledge is power!
Sources
https://www.higheredtoday.org/2017/04/10/lgbtq-students-higher-education/
https://www.jahonline.org/article/S1054-139X(17)30298-7/pdf
https://www.campuspride.org/tpc/trans-inclusive-intramural-athletic-policy/
https://www.campuspride.org/tpc/gender-inclusive-housing/
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2021/10/26/lgbtq-students-face-sizable-mental-health-disparities
