From Money to Mental Health, Pandemic Ravages LGBTQ+ Households

According to a report by the Movement Advancement Project (MAP), a U.S.-based gender equality think tank, this year's global pandemic has hit LGBTQ+ people and households harder than the average American.

The report interviewed over 3,400 adults in the U.S., and found that almost two- thirds of LGBTQ+ households have had at least one member lose a job since the pandemic started. A little under half of non-LGBTQ+ households reported losing a job.

Additionally, two thirds of LGBTQ+ households reported having at least one serious financial problem this year. The numbers are much worse for QTPOC. Seventy percent of Latinx LGBTQ+ households have had serious financial problems and 95 percent of Black LGBTQ+ people have.

Queer households also lost health coverage at double the rate of non-LGBTQ+ people this year. Nearly 40 percent also said they've been unable to get medical help they needed this year because of the pandemic. One-fifth of households also reported that they weren't getting the food they needed to just make it through each day.

"We know LGBTQ households and the community more broadly experience higher rates of discrimination in the workplace, steep obstacles to housing, accessing medical care -- and to the extent that LGBTQ people and LGBTQ people of color are experiencing the full force of this pandemic, it's likely their recovery will take even longer," said Logan Casey, co-author of the report.

While 23 percent of non-LGBTQ+ people reported problems dealing with the isolation that comes from quarantine, 44 percent of LGBTQ+ households reported them. The Trans Lifeline, a crisis line for trans people, has reported a 40 percent increase of calls where the caller is actively considering self-harm.

Casey warned that these results might just be the tip of the iceberg. "Think about this," Casey said. "This poll was conducted in July of this year. And so now here we are in December, many months later, and numbers are continuing to surge and setting new records. It's likely going to make these painful ripple effects even worse."