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Research Available: Mental Health of Intersex LGBTQ Youth

Today is Intersex Awareness Day!

October 26 is Intersex Awareness Day, a day dedicated to celebrating and advocating for the intersex community. Intersex is an umbrella term meant to describe variations in physical sex traits or reproductive anatomy that may cause bodies to differ from normative expectations for “male” or “female.”

Intersex awareness is crucial: many intersex people are assigned a sex of male or female at birth, even if they are actually somewhere in the middle. Due to a lack of systematic data collection and a history of medical erasure, we don’t have an accurate picture of the size of the intersex community, but experts estimate it to be around 2% of the population.

We’re dedicated to supporting LGBTQ young people who are intersex with our life-saving work connecting young people to our trained counselors and resources and by conducting research, like our latest report on The Mental Health and Well-being of LGBTQ Youth who are Intersex.

Check out some of our findings:

🌎 Intersex youth are diverse across many identities and experiences:

69% identified as multisexual (i.e. attraction to more than one sex and/or gender such as bisexual or pansexual)
58% identified as transgender or nonbinary or were questioning their gender identity

⚠️ The rates of mental health challenges among intersex youth are higher than LGBTQ youth who are not intersex:

48% seriously considered suicide in the past 12 months, compared to 41% of LGBTQ youth who are not intersex
2 out of 3 intersex youth reported symptoms of major depressive disorder in the past two weeks

❤️ Acceptance is a strong protective factor for reducing suicide risk for intersex youth:

Intersex youth with at least one parent who was accepting of their gender identity had 46% lower odds of attempting suicide in the past year
Transgender and nonbinary intersex youth whose pronouns were respected by all of the people they live with had 64% lower odds of reporting a suicide attempt

Dig into the full research

Intersex justice advocate and Texas Human Rights Commissioner Alicia Roth Wiegel has definitive advice for allies of intersex individuals: “Let us be who we are until we voice that we have a problem with it. And if we do, guide us and support us through the process of making things better. Don’t make decisions for us without us.” (Check out our website for an editorial where we dig into what allyship to the intersex community really means)

Join us on this Intersex Awareness Day, and every day, in celebrating this community and affirming every aspect of their identities.

Yellow background with Purple circle and illustration of several people reaching for stars with the text: Together we honor and celebrate LGBTQ youth who are intersex and continue to always have their back

P.S. Curious to learn more about the intersex gender identity and other gender identities? Check out our guide to Understanding Gender Identities.

No matter what, you’re not alone. The Trevor Project is here for you, 24/7, 365 days a year, from anywhere. It is 100% confidential, and 100% free. Reach a counselor now.

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