2025 LGBTQ Youth Report
“Every Child Needs a Safe Place”: How Home Life Impacts LGBTQ Youth
This blog post is co-authored with PFLAG National.
Finding a place in the world that feels safe can be a defining experience for young people. For most, the first place they discover this sense of security is at home. For LGBTQ youth — just like other youth — their overall health and well-being are linked to having homes and families that are loving and supportive.
In observance of National Coming Out Day, MAP is highlighting excerpts from its recent report on LGBTQ youth — published in partnership with A4TE, Advocates for Youth, Equality Federation, GLSEN, PFLAG National, and The Trevor Project — which includes new perspectives from LGBTQ youth and their parents who support them.
The following underscores the importance of families and homes that advocate for LGBTQ young people. Offering snapshots of LGBTQ families, as well as research findings on LGBTQ youth well-being, this blog details clear differences in life outcomes for youth in affirming homes versus those who experience rejection.
LGBTQ youth do better when families are affirming
Family support, affection, and acceptance all improve a young LGBTQ person’s health and well-being. Research from the Family Acceptance Project found that the more safety, love, and support youth felt from their families in terms of their LGBTQ identity(s), the more likely they were to:
- have higher self-esteem
- have better mental health
- believe they would have a good life
- believe that they would become happy adults
These are the positive impacts we hope for all youth across races, places and genders to be able to experience.
In addition to positively impacting the lives of LGBTQ young people, family acceptance also protects against negative outcomes. The Family Acceptance Project also finds that LGBTQ youth with supportive families are less likely to experience depression and suicidality, or to experiment with illicit drugs. These findings have been replicated in studies by others, too. Regarding suicidality in particular, research from The Trevor Project found that:
- LGBTQ youth with parents who were accepting of their sexual orientation were 43% less likely to report having attempted suicide in the past year, compared to LGBTQ youth who were rejected by their parents.
- Similarly, transgender and nonbinary youth with parents who were accepting of their gender identity were 36% less likely to have attempted suicide in the last year.
- This effect was even more pronounced among Black transgender and nonbinary youth, who had a 47% lower likelihood of having attempted suicide in the prior year compared to youth without accepting parents.
Rejection remains, but families are learning to advocate
Experiences of family rejection are, unfortunately, a widespread reality for LGBTQ youth. A 2024 national survey of LGBTQ youth and mental health found that only two in five (40%) respondents found their home to be LGBTQ-affirming. A separate study similarly shows that nearly 60% of LGBTQ youth reported experiencing at least one form of parental rejection, such as taunting, mocking, or speaking negatively about them being LGBTQ.
Fortunately, there are signs that many families are increasingly interested in affirming and advocating for their LGBTQ children. According to PFLAG National — a long-standing resource for LGBTQ people, their parents, families and allies to develop skills for resilience and understanding, and to advocate for LGBTQ loved ones — there has been significant growth in its chapter network, especially in rural and conservative communities, in recent years. For example, the organization added 36 new chapters in 2023, 25 chapters in 2024, and a record 40 new chapters in 2025.
Parents of LGBTQ youth share their growth
MAP’s report also includes testimonials from parents of LGBTQ youth who have reflected on their journeys of acceptance, support, and learning. Below, we highlight several parent responses, gathered via the Strong Family Alliance (a PFLAG program), to the question: “What would you say to other parents learning the LGBTQ identity of their child?”
“It’s not easy, there are many challenges. It takes a very strong person to reveal such a private thing, your child is very, extremely vulnerable at this point and worries more about disappointing you and being rejected by you! Take the time to listen and learn and grow together. It’s a journey I’m glad I started and still enjoying!” — Read the Q&A here.
“Love them unconditionally. Be the one they can tell things to without fear that you will think less of them. Overcome your own prejudices, because every child needs a safe place to be who they are.” — Read the Q&A here.
“You are not alone. Your child is so much stronger than you are or believe them to be. The world is not, usually, going to knock on your door with pitchforks because your child has revealed themselves to be their true selves.” — Read the Q&A here.
“Your child’s sexual orientation does not change the person you have always loved. It does not define them[;] they are exactly the same ‘child’ you have loved since birth. Sadly, society still has prejudices, and you need to be there for them more than ever.” — Read the Q&A here.
LGBTQ youth just want to be themselves, and they deserve unconditional love, support, and safety. Unfortunately, family rejection remains all too common. For many parents, affirming their LGBTQ child requires overcoming their own deeply held biases against LGBTQ people. Yet, research shows that LGBTQ youth have better life outcomes when they are safe at home and loved and affirmed for who they are by their family. And fortunately, parents are actively working to better support their own family and others’ by joining and forming LGBTQ community organizations as they navigate along the journey.
Recommendations: how to show up for LGBTQ youth
In line with their work to create a safer, more equitable world for LGBTQ people by fostering family connections, PFLAG National recommends that:
- Parents lead with love so that no matter what they may initially feel about their child sharing their sexual orientation or gender identity, their child comes away from the conversation knowing that their parent loves them.
- Parents listen intentionally so that an LGBTQ child feels that they have the space to talk about their thoughts and feelings in an open dialogue.
- Parents show signs of support, even if at first the support parents can offer is more subtle.
- Parents learn the terminology related to LGBTQ identities so that they can have more robust conversations with their LGBTQ children.
- Parents remember that they are not alone in the process of learning that their child is LGBTQ, that their feelings are valid, that they are on a journey in processing this new information and their own reaction to it, and that self-care is important. There are supportive allies, groups, and other helpful resources that parents of LGBTQ youth can lean on.
For more examples of parents of LGBTQ youth telling the stories of their paths to acceptance, see The Trevor Project’s YouTube Series: Learn with Love, and PFLAG’s short films Las Familias de PFLAG en Español (2019), A Place to Call Home (2021), Taking the Long Road Home (2023), and the series I Changed My Mind (2025).
To learn more about how family, health care, education, and community inform the lives of LGBTQ youth, read MAP’s new partner report.
