Intersex Youth Mental Health Report by The Trevor Project

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On an orange background, text reads: The Mental Health and Well-being of LGBTQ Youth who are Intersex. Picture is of a group of young people, all smiling and giving a thumbs up. Logo of The Trevor Project who put out the report- their name in orange on w a white background with an orange star.The Intersex Youth Mental Health Report by The Trevor Project focuses on the mental health and well-being of LGBTQ youth who are intersex. The report highlights that intersex youth face disproportionately high rates of mental health challenges compared to their non-intersex peers. The report was conducted with 1000 individuals in the United States but in the absence of similar data in Australia, it is important that we consider its findings. With better data collection in Australia and less conflation of being intersex with sexual orientation and gender diversity, we, too, could have meaningful data. The report also acknowledges that cisgender and heterosexual intersex young people exist, however its focus is on the intersectionality for young people who are both intersex AND LGBQT identifying.

The report states “The medicalization, pathologization, and medical (mis)treatment of intersex variations has left many individuals with negative physical and emotional consequences of procedures done without individual informed consent. Presently, much of the research on intersex communities remains focused on medical treatment and centers very little on the mental health and well-being of intersex individuals. Furthermore, when intersex youth are included in this type of research, they are often combined into a larger sample including transgender, nonbinary, and other gender variant youth, leaving findings specific to intersex youth largely unknown. This report grows our understanding of the mental health of LGBTQ youth who are intersex by using data from a national sample of more than 1,000 intersex youth ages 13–24 who participated in The Trevor Project’s 2021 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health.”

The report’s key findings include:

  • 48% of intersex youth seriously considered suicide in the past 12 months, compared to 41% of LGBTQ youth who are not intersex.
  • 77% of intersex youth reported that someone in their life attempted to change their LGBTQ+ identity.
  • 13% of intersex youth experienced conversion therapy.
  • 55% of intersex youth reported experiencing non-consensual surgeries to conform to the gender binary.

The report emphasises the need for supportive environments, affirming spaces, and respect for pronouns to improve the mental health outcomes for intersex youth.

You can read the full report at Intersex Youth Mental Health Report