THE HILL – Disordered eating is widespread among young LGBTQ+ people, new research suggests, taking a significant toll on their mental health and putting them at greater risk of suicide.
About 9 percent of LGBTQ+ youth ages 13 to 18 reported being diagnosed with an eating disorder, according to a Trevor Project study published Thursday.
Another 29 percent said they had not been medically diagnosed but suspect they might have an eating disorder.
Overall, just less than 3 percent of adolescents in the U.S. aged 13 to 18 have been diagnosed with an eating disorder, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.
Black LGBTQ+ youth in particular suspected they had an eating disorder at four times the rate of actually being diagnosed with one, according to the study.
LGBTQ+ youth identifying as Native/Indigenous or multiracial reported the highest rates of eating disorder diagnoses, though another 33 percent of both groups said they suspected they had an eating disorder but had not been officially diagnosed.
Cisgender LGBTQ boys reported the lowest rates of both being diagnosed with or suspecting they had an eating disorder, while transgender boys and nonbinary youth assigned female at birth reported the highest.
LGBTQ+ youth diagnosed with an eating disorder were nearly four times as likely to report a suicide attempt in the past year … Read more.
‘This bill is a Trojan Horse:’ Attempts to reorient House ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill toward parental rights erupt in debate
“The suggestion is, if they don’t learn about these sorts of things in the school by third grade, then they’re gonna commit suicide. I just don’t buy that.”
FLORIDA POLITICS – The House Judiciary Committee spent the last two hours of its Thursday meeting in debate and public testimony as it heard the controversial school-parental rights legislation, dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill by opponents.
The House panel approved a committee substitute of the legislation (HB 1557), sponsored by Republican Rep. Joe Harding, in a 13-7 party-line vote. The proposal is now headed to the House Floor. The version approved by the committee Thursday night varied slightly from its Senate counterpart, seemingly attempting to address previous criticisms of vague language.
The bill presented to the committee would ban classroom “instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity” for students in kindergarten through third grade, or “in a manner that is not age appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.”
That portion of the legislation took a slight turn from its previous version, also put forward in the Senate, which was more broad in prohibiting school districts from “encouraging classroom discussion about sexual orientation or gender identity in primary grade levels or in a manner that is not age-appropriate.”
Parents who think a classroom discussion was not age appropriate or who are unsupportive of a district’s policies would still be able to sue for damages and attorney’s fees.
“The concern is that there is instruction that could continue to push, and lead to, whether you want to say it’s stress, on that child to have discussion in those ages,” Harding said. “Focus should be on reading and math and the basics that come with being in kindergarten to third grade” … read more.
