Celebrate Pride Month by learning about how you can support LGBTQIA+ youth!

Each June, Pride Month is observed and celebrated throughout the United States. To those in the LGBTQIA+ community, Pride is a celebration of self-expression and the progress that has been made, as well as an opportunity to recognize and commemorate all those that fought and sacrificed to increase LGBTQIA+ rights and discrimination protections.

National prevalence data on substance use among lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) high school students indicate that LGB students use substances at significantly higher rates than their straight peers. Findings indicate that LGBTQIA+ youth may use substances to cope with minority stress and negative experiences in unsupportive, anti-LGBTQIA+ environments.

Check out these resources to learn more about how you can support LGBTQIA+ youth:

• SAMHSA’s Moving Beyond Change Efforts: Evidence and Action to Support and Affirm LGBTQI+ Youth.
• CDC’s LGBTQ+ Youth Resources
• Safer Spaces in Schools for LGBTQ+ Youth from the Trevor Project
• PTTC's Prevention Resource for the LGTQ+ Community
• Prevention First’s Delivering Culturally Responsive Prevention Services