09-04-2025
Iowa LGBTQ+ youth say new laws hurt mental health
Young LGBTQ+ Iowans polled by a local nonprofit and The Trevor Project said they experienced mental health issues and had considered leaving the state due to politics.
The big picture: The majority of respondents in each poll said they'd experienced anxiety, and more than half said they had plans to leave the state because of LGBTQ+-specific politics.
Driving the news: Iowa Safe Schools, a youth LGBTQ+ nonprofit, asked about 150 middle and high school students last fall via Google form about their experiences at school after a wide range of legislation targeting LGBTQ+ youth had passed.
The Trevor Project, a national crisis intervention organization, surveyed 18,000 young people ages 13-24 nationwide, including in Iowa, between Sept. 13 and Dec. 16, 2023.
Flashback: A wide range of LGBTQ+-specific laws have passed in Iowa in recent years, including:
What they're saying: Hannah Mitchell, director of youth engagement at Iowa Safe Schools, says the new laws have hurt students and teachers' comfort being openly LGBTQ+.
The other side: Gov. Kim Reynolds has said many of the laws are put in place to protect children and their " innocence" and to ensure equality in girls' sports.
She also said there needs to be a pause to better understand "emerging therapies" for minors, including puberty blockers and gender-affirming surgeries.
By the numbers: More than 80% of surveyed students said they felt the new legislation had negatively affected their sense of safety at school, per Iowa Safe Schools.
Over half said they dealt with bullying at school because of their LGBTQ+ identity.
The majority had also lost access to LGBTQ+ affirming literature, and a quarter of students said they were told they couldn't discuss queer topics in class.
34% of LGBTQ+ young people seriously considered suicide in 2023, according to The Trevor Project.
While 85% of students surveyed by Iowa Safe Schools said they planned on staying in Iowa to finish high school, only 45% intended to stay in the state for college.
After college graduation, they're unlikely to work in the state, 37% said.
Just over half of young LGBTQ+ people said they or their families had considered leaving the state because of laws and policies, including 69% of transgender and nonbinary people, per The Trevor Project.
The bottom line: "Iowa is really at risk of losing future leaders, future workers and innovators — and they are probably going to other, more welcoming states," Mitchell says. "I think everyone should see that as an issue."
