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LGBTQ Youth

While few nationally representative, large surveys of youth ask about sexual orientation and gender identity, best estimates suggest that roughly 9.5% of youth identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer. Using these estimates, the Williams Institute reports that there are approximately 2 million LGBTQ youth between the ages of 13-17. LGBTQ youth are at risk for family rejection, homelessness, discrimination and bullying at school, and harmful, so-called conversion “therapy” practices. LGBTQ youth are also uniquely resilient and build amazing support structures for themselves. 

The following resources address the obstacles and protections that exist for LGBTQ youth ranging from challenges for transgender youth in schools, LGBTQ youth experiences in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems, reports regarding conversion “therapy”, access to best-practice medical care, and efforts to create safe schools.

Related Resources

Map image of Youth Care Bans Only captured on July 13, 2026
Bans on Best Practice Medical Care for Transgender Youth
Bans on best-practice medical care represent one of the most extreme and coordinated political attacks on transgender people in recent years. These laws target transgender youth by blocking their access to best-practice medical care.
Map
Conversion “Therapy” Laws
This map illustrates the landscape of laws that prohibit licensed mental health practitioners from subjecting LGBTQ minors to harmful conversion “therapy” practices that attempt to change their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Map
In Their Own Words: Learning from LGBTQ Youth Experiences to Tell a New Story
By combining new insights on who LGBTQ youth are and examining how social dynamics and public policy shape their lives, this comprehensive report expands our understanding of an often overlooked but frequently debated community.
Report
Cutting Through the Noise: An Overview of the President’s First 100 Days

The bottom line is that this administration has moved quickly to dismantle and disrupt the hard work over decades to protect LGBTQ people from discrimination, to provide safe and supportive environments for LGBTQ youth, and to ensure that transgender people can live their lives with safety and joy.  

Blog Post
The State of Schools for Trans Youth in 2025
Blog Post
How State Policy Affects the Well-Being and Relocation of LGBTQ+ Young People
LGBTQ+ young people in states with a lower LGBTQ+ policy index were more likely to cross into another state to access health care or consider moving out of the state altogether compared to those in states with a higher LGBTQ+ policy index.
Brief
The State of Trans Healthcare in 2025
Blog Post
LGBTQ Policy Spotlight: Bans on Medical Care for Transgender People
In this report, MAP analyzed more than 250 bills introduced in recent years that attack access to medical care for transgender people. The report's findings detail the extent of how recent bills targeting medically necessary care for transgender people are expanding and becoming more extreme.
Report
In the Worst Legislative Session Ever, Trans People Will Still Win
Blog Post
Under Fire: New MAP Report Details Eight Tactics to Erase LGBTQ People from Schools and Public Life

MEDIA CONTACT: Rebecca Farmer, Movement Advancement Project rebecca@mapresearch.org | 303-578-4600 ext 122 March 23, 2023 A report released today by the Movement Advancement Project (MAP) outlines how a series of coordinated political attacks is designed to erase LGBTQ people from schools and public life. The report is the second in

Press Release
Get the Facts: Best Practice Medical Care For Trans Youth

The recent wave of bans attempting to block best-practice medical care for transgender youth has been fertile political ground in an election year.    

Blog Post
Policy Spotlight: Curriculum Censorship & Hostile School Climate Bills

Curriculum Censorship & Hostile School Climate Bills examines the wave of state legislation that censor discussions of race, ethnicity, religion, and LGBTQ people in schools and that create a hostile climate for students. Curriculum Censorship Bills, including So-Called “Don’t Say Gay” Bills and Bans on Critical Race Theory School censorship

Report
LGBTQ Policy Spotlight: Efforts to Ban Health Care for Transgender Youth

In 2021 alone, legislatures in 22 states have introduced bills to ban best practice medical care for transgender young people. MAP’s report, Efforts to Ban Health Care for Transgender Youth, provides an overview of the legislative environment across the country, the harmful impacts these bills could have, as well a

Report
Week #1: 10 Ways President Biden Can Support LGBTQ People

This brief highlights 10 actions the Biden administration can immediately start to ensure LGBTQ people and their families can be protected from discrimination.

Brief
The High Stakes in the Fulton Case: Undermining the Vital Role of Child Welfare Laws & Regulations in Protecting America’s Children

This fall, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, a case related to taxpayer-funded child welfare agencies. If the Court rules that Catholic Social Services (CSS) can refuse to comply with the City of Philadelphia’s nondiscrimination requirement and reject qualified parents simply because

Report
Community Acceptance: Resources for Communities Working with Transgender & Gender Diverse Children

Many people don’t understand what it means to be transgender or gender diverse, so some parents or family members struggle when their child comes out as transgender or gender diverse. It is natural for parents to have questions, and this document, jointly created by the Biden Foundation, Gender Spectrum, and

Blog Post
Talking About Family Acceptance and Transgender Youth
Family acceptance is essential when it comes to the health and well-being of young people who are transgender, gender non-binary or gender diverse. This guide provides an overview of conversation approaches that can help parents, family and friends build and expand support for transgender youth.
Guide
Title IX, Religious Exemptions & Campus Climate: LGBT Protections in Higher Education
This brief shows how the expansion of the ability of colleges and universities to claim a religious exemption to federal nondiscrimination laws can have a profoundly negative impact on LGBTQ students.
Brief
Transgender Youth in Schools

September 2018 – Released as part of the new Safe Schools Movement, this new infographic brief from MAP, GLSEN and NCTE highlights the experience of transgender students in school and the laws and policies still needed to ensure transgender students

Brief
2018 Federal Child Welfare Amendment

The Bottom Line In July 2018, a committee passed the so-called Aderholt Amendment to an appropriations bill that creates a federal license to discriminate for child welfare providers. As detailed in a brief released by MAP, Lambda Legal, and the Every Child Deserves a Family coalition, if passed, this bill

Report
Unjust: LGBTQ Youth Incarcerated in the Juvenile Justice System

The Bottom Line Unjust: LGBTQ Youth Incarcerated in the Juvenile Justice System examines how LGBTQ youth who are incarcerated in juvenile detention and correctional facilities face bias in adjudication, and mistreatment and abuse in confinement facilities. LGBTQ youth also lack supportive services when leaving the criminal and juvenile justice systems,

Report
Separation and Stigma: Transgender Youth & School Facilities

The Bottom Line There are an estimated 150,000 transgender youth between the ages of 13 and 17 in America. GLSEN’s 2015 National School Climate Survey found that 75% of transgender students felt unsafe at school because of their gender expression, 50% report being unable to use the name or pronoun

Report
Mapping Transgender Equality in the United States
This report looks at legal equality for transgender people across the country using a gender identity tally comprised of 25 state laws and policies in the five key categories.
Report
Talking About Transgender Students and School Facilities Access
Every student deserves a fair chance to succeed in school and prepare for their future—including students who are transgender. This guide provides messaging approaches to build support for policies that protect transgender students’ ability to access school facilities that match their gender identity.
Guide
Unjust: How the Broken Criminal Justice System Fails LGBTQ Youth

The Bottom Line Unjust: How the Broken Juvenile and Criminal Justice Systems Fail LGBTQ Youth examines how as many as 3.2 million LGBTQ youth are vulnerable to discrimination, profiling, and mistreatment in the juvenile and criminal justice systems. In fact, LGBTQ youth are twice as likely to end up in

Report
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