It’s time to take action to curb Nevada’s LGBTQ+ youth suicide rates

In my younger days working as a paramedic and firefighter in California and a school resource officer in South Dakota, I saw first-hand the disparity between the quality of health care offered to rural Americans compared with their urban counterparts. So, when I took on the role of a trustee for the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust, I made it my mission to ensure that every person has equal access to top-notch health care, regardless of their ZIP code.

Since 2008, Helmsley’s Rural Healthcare Program has granted nearly $750 million to initiatives that aim to level the playing field for cardiac, cancer and stroke care; bring needed diagnostic equipment and telemedicine services to remote communities; and strengthen behavioral and mental health care to combat the growing number of suicides, particularly among our youth.

I’ve known for years that our country is facing a youth mental health crisis, but I was shocked to learn how much this epidemic disproportionately affects the LGBTQ+ community.

During a recent trip soaring above what some people call flyover country, I watched a short in-flight video from the Trevor Project highlighting several LGBTQ+ youths detailing their darkest and most isolating times. The video also featured them sharing the pivotal moments that brought them hope and joy. It made me think back to my time as a school resource officer and my strong connections with the troubled youths I served. Many shared how they grappled with feelings of hopelessness, struggled with embracing their LGBTQ+ identities, and dealt with repeated incidents of bullying. My heart ached; no one should be bullied, ever.

I knew that the Helmsley Charitable Trust had to do something, and I was excited to find the right partner in the Trevor Project, whose mission is to end suicide among LGBTQ+ youth.

Just this week, we announced a joint $5 million public awareness campaign to highlight this issue across the nine states that Helmsley’s Rural Healthcare Program serves: Hawaii, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. Through public service announcements, social media blasts and traditional advertising, we’ll shine a light on this public health crisis, connect young people with the care they need, and — we hope — save many, many lives.

This isn’t a niche problem, and the Trevor Project’s research confirms the alarming statistics. LGBTQ+ youth are more than four times as likely to consider suicide as their cisgender or straight peers, and it’s estimated that more than 1.8 million LGBTQ+ young people in the U.S. seriously consider killing themselves each year. The numbers are even more staggering across many of the rural communities Helmsley serves. In Montana, 55% of LGBTQ+ youths considered suicide compared with 45% nationwide. In South Dakota, 19% of LGBTQ+ young people attempted suicide compared with 14%.

Our discussions with the Trevor Project convinced me that the philanthropic community needs to do a better job at applying an intersectional lens to its causes.

Intersectionality, a term coined in 1989 by activist and legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw, describes the comprehensive way that the effects of multiple forms of discrimination intersect in the experiences of marginalized groups. In this case, it means taking what we know about LGBTQ+ youth experiences, taking what we know about the experiences of the rural youth in our communities, and zooming in on the unique mental health challenges within that intersection.

This approach has been key to the success of programs such as the national 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — an accessible, federally funded mental health emergency line in the spirit of 911. Though 988 aims to prevent all suicide, the program offers specialized services for LGBTQ+ youths who call for help.

The youth mental health crisis is undeniable, and the statistics showing that the problem is even greater among the LGBTQ+ community can’t be ignored any longer.

I was staggered to read a recent report that LGBTQ+ nonprofits receive less than 1% of all charitable giving. Perhaps philanthropists need to start considering intersectionality to make an even greater impact in the communities they serve.

Our multimedia campaign launches soon, and we hope that those who see our messages show extra compassion and empathy to youths who are struggling. These are our kids, our students, our peers — and they desperately need our help.

We also invite the greater philanthropic community to help spread these messages of hope across the entire country so we can unite in the fight against LGBTQ+ youth suicide. Especially as we head into what is likely to be a heated general election season, let us remember that suicide prevention for LGBTQ+ young people is not political — let’s not succumb to the myth that it is.

Walter Panzirer is a trustee for the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust.