Two members of Dykes on Bikes watch the start of the San Francisco Pride Parade in 2025. Focusing on gloomy reports about the backlash against LGBTQ rights can be harmful to mental health.

In 2009, when I came out as gay as a teen in Ohio, my friends and family responded with a torrent of disapproval. Every day brought a new dose of mockery, hate speech and, at times, abuse. I felt alone — more alone than I felt before I unburdened myself of my secret. 

One day, I was over at a friend’s home when his mother, Betty, talked to me. She hugged me and told me how her brother was also gay and that I could always talk to her. She also told me something else that made a huge impact — essentially that it all gets better and these horrific times would one day be behind me. 

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Those words of support, and the memory of them, helped get me through more than one difficult time in my life. That affirmation saved my life. 

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Yet during this year’s Pride Month, several outlets have put out gloomy reports that would seem to suggest that things may no longer be getting better for LGBTQ people. 

A Gallup poll released just as Pride began found that Americans are less adamant in their support of LGBTQ issues:

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