Why are gay people scared today
The PTF examines nature and the factors behind these threats, using real-world examples to illustrate the challenges faced by LGBTs in 2025.
London, UK – 6 January 2025
In 2025, LGBT+ rights are under significant threat globally, despite progress in some regions. Political repression, cultural and religious conservatism, disinformation, and economic inequality have merged to erode hard-won freedoms in many countries. The Peter Tatchell Foundation examines nature and the factors behind these threats, using real-world examples to illustrate the challenges faced by LGBT+ communities in 2025.
Political Repression and Authoritarianism
Many authoritarian parties and regimes have intensified their attacks on LGBT+ rights, using them as political scapegoats to win bigoted votes and consolidate power. In Uganda, the Anti-Homosexuality Act was reintroduced with harsher penalties, including life imprisonment and even the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality.” This law not only endangers the lives of LGBT+ individuals but also empowers vigilantes to persecute them with impunity. It is being used to construct an ‘enemy within’ to deflect attention from the eco
Internalised homophobia and oppression happens to gay, lesbian and bisexual people, and even heterosexuals, who have learned and been taught that heterosexuality is the norm and “correct way to be”. Hearing and seeing negative depictions of LGB people can lead us to internalise, or hold in, these negative messages. Some LGB people tolerate from mental distress as a result.
A general feeling of personal worth and also a positive view of your sexual orientation are critical for your mental health. You, enjoy many lesbian, gay and bisexual people, may own hidden your sexual orientation for a long occasion. Research carried out in Northern Ireland into the needs of young LGBT people in 2003 revealed that the average age for men to realise their sexual orientation was 12, yet the average age they actually confided in someone was 17. It is during these formative years when people are coming to perceive and acknowledge their sexual orientation that internalised homophobia can really affect a person.
Internalised homophobia manifests itself in varying ways that can be linked to mental health. Examples include:
01. Denial of your sexual orientation to yourself and others.
02. Attempts to a
LGBTIQ+ people: statistics
LGBTIQ+ stands for lesbian, gay, multi-attracted , trans, intersex, queer or questioning. We’ve used the term LGBTIQ+ on this page, but we realise this doesn’t cover all the ways people explain their gender or sexuality. Stonewall has a glossary that lists many more terms.
Mental health problems such as depression, self-harm, alcohol and drug abuse and suicidal thoughts can alter anyone, but they’re more common among people who are LGBTIQ+.
Being LGBTIQ+ doesn’t cause these problems. But some things LGBTIQ+ people go through can impact their mental health, such as discrimination, homophobia or transphobia, social isolation, rejection, and difficult experiences of coming out.
It’s important to note that embracing organism LGBTIQ+ can have a positive impact on someone’s well-being too. It might mean they have more confidence, a sense of belonging to a society, feelings of relief and self-acceptance, and better relationships with friends and family.
What issues might LGBTIQ+ people face?
Mental health issues
Being LGBTIQ+ doesn’t automatically mean someone will have mental health issues but may denote they’re at higher chance of experiencing poor mental he
Running Scared? A Critical Analysis of LGBTQ+ Inclusion Policy in Schools
Introduction
In 2019 the UK government released statutory guidance for relationships and sex education in schools (Department for Teaching, 2019) following a period of consultation. The guidance was a radical update of previous guidance which was issued in 2000 to more accurately mirror societal issues in the twenty-first century. The guidance included a requirement for primary and secondary schools to coach children about LGBTQ+ identities and unlike kinds of relationships, including same-sex relationships. Although societal attitudes in relation to same-sex relationships possess improved in recent years, and even though some countries have taken steps to legalize queer relationships, the inclusion of this content in the university curriculum was considered by some to be controversial. For example, in 2019 parental opposition in Birmingham and other cities to LGBTQ+ curricula in first schools dominated the media headlines in England. The visible tensions between religious beliefs, sexual orientation and gender persona fueled parental protests outside primary schools that had
The ‘Global Closet’ is Huge—Vast Majority of World’s Lesbian, Queer , Bisexual Population Obscure Orientation, YSPH Examination Finds
The vast majority of the world’s sexual minority population — an estimated 83 percent of those who recognize as lesbian, male lover or bisexual — keep their orientation hidden from all or most of the people in their lives, according to a recent study by the Yale School of Public Health that could have major implications for global public health.
Concealing one’s sexual orientation can lead to significant mental and physical health issues, increased healthcare costs and a dampening of the public awareness necessary for improving equal rights, said John Pachankis, Ph.D., associate professor at the Yale College of Public Health. He co-authored the study with Richard Bränström, an associate professor at the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and explore affiliate at Yale.
Published in the journal PLOS ONE, the study is believed to be the first endeavor to quantify the size of the “global closet” in order to gauge its public health impact.
“Given rapidly increasing acceptance of sexual minorities in some countries, it might be easy to assume that most sexual minorities are