Queer youth much likelier to have considered or attempted suicide during pandemic than their peers

• LGBTQ students were at least twice as likely to have considered or attempted suicide during the pandemic, the CDC said.
• The findings were part of a larger picture showing the pandemic's stark mental health effects for youth overall.
• LGBTQ youth advocates noted that the pandemic coincided with a rise in anti-LGBTQ legislation and policies nationwide.

Queer high-school students were far more likely to have attempted or seriously considered suicide during the pandemic than their peers, according to recently released data collected by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Nearly half of respondents who identified as lesbian, gay or bisexual said they had seriously thought about suicide, while one in four lesbian, gay or bisexual youth reported attempting it, the agency found. The survey did not collect responses for transgender youth, instead allowing youth to identify as "other or questioning."

The findings were part of an alarming larger picture illustrating the stark mental and emotional health effects that plagued youth nationwide as the pandemic forced schools to close and saddled families with isolation, economic hardship, illness and loss.