By Brittany McAlister 
Trinity Times Correspondent 

When Trinity Washington University student Danielle Egerton attended the Capital Pride Parade this summer, the Global Affairs major born as a female but identifies as nonbinary and pansexual – who uses the pronouns they/them – shed all feelings of being misunderstood and experienced full acceptance.

Having June designated as Pride month provided several members of Trinity’s LGBTQ+ community with a moment of self-love while living in a world that still often makes them feel marginalized.

Though Egerton openly came out as bisexual in middle school and was embraced by family and the Washington-area LGBTQ+ community, they have not come into adulthood completely psychologically unscathed. 

Despite all the support they received from family members, Egerton said they suffer from anxiety and take medication prescribed by a doctor. This medication assists with coping mechanisms related to their gender and sexual identity. 

“I am gender fluid,” Egerton said. “I was born a female but feel more masculine than feminine. The primary reason why my psychiatrist prescribed me gender-affirming care pills is because I have what is known as Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD).”

BDD is a mental health disorder characterized by an obsession with perceived flaws in one’s physical appearance, which are often minor or even imagined. 

According to a report by the International OCD Foundation, BDD can significantly impact a person’s daily life, leading to feelings of shame, self-consciousness, and low self-esteem. 

“I don’t feel comfortable in my own body,” Egerton said. “Body image has always been a struggle for me.” 

Recent studies suggest that individuals who identify as LGBTQ+ may be at a higher risk for developing BDD due to societal pressures, discrimination, and stigma related to their sexual orientation or gender identity. 

According to a report published by the National Library of Medicine, mental illness is at an all-time high for many members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Though a 2023 Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) Study showed that an 84% supermajority of non-LGBTQ+ Americans support equal rights for the LGBTQ+ community, it also reported that more than 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills were introduced in state legislatures throughout the U.S. that same year.

This shows Egerton and other members of Trinity’s LGBTQ+ community that full acceptance is far from achieved.

Gays, bisexuals, and transgender persons are estimated to have some of the highest suicide attempts in the country, according to a 2022 study by the Trevor Project, an organization that provides crisis support for LGBTQ+ youth. The same study found members of the LGBTQ+ often suffer from severe cases of anxiety, psychological distress, and clinical depression.

Sydney Triola – a Trinity librarian and the university’s Information Literacy Specialist – is intimately aware of the mental health challenges that LGBTQ+ people experience, which includes “discrimination, harassment, fear of coming out, rejection from family, lack of representation, and internalized homophobia and transphobia.” 

Triola identifies as bisexual and believes that mental illness amongst lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders, and queer people is a public health crisis that needs to be more thoroughly addressed. 

According to a 2021 report from the National Library of Medicine, mistreatment of members of the LGBTQ community is deeply rooted in societal attitudes and norms. 

In many cultures, there is a strong emphasis on traditional gender roles and heteronormativity, leading to the stigmatizing of anything outside of these norms. This mistreatment can result in verbal abuse, physical violence, bias, and denial of basic human rights. 

“LGBTQ people can overcome these mental health challenges by practicing self-care and self-acceptance,” Triola said. They can begin “building a support network, advocating for themselves, connecting with LGBTQ resources, and challenging discrimination and societal stigma.”

It is why gay pride events in June have become so affirming for members of the LGBTQ+ community.

June was designated as Pride month for historical reasons, because of the Stonewall riots that took place in New York City in June 1969. 

The riots were a series of spontaneous demonstrations by members of the LGBTQ+ community in response to a police raid at the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in Greenwich Village. The riots are considered a pivotal moment in the LGBTQ+ Rights Movement in the United States. 

For Trinity students like Egerton, Pride month goes a long way in helping they find acceptance and the gender-affirming care provides a measure of self-love.

Jazmine Senn – a board-certified health nurse practitioner for women and current director of Trinity’s Campus Health & Wellness Center – provided gender-affirming care before coming to the university. 

“Gender-affirming care is healthcare that helps people align their bodies and lives with their gender identity when it differs from their assigned sex at birth,” Senn told Trinity Times. 

She has provided feminizing therapy, which is testosterone blockers and estrogen for males transitioning to females, and masculinizing therapy, which is testosterone for females transitioning to males. 

These patients were educated about various side effects, medication adherence, and expected timelines of physical body changes, Senn said, adding that although gender-affirming medication is most often used in transitioning, a low dosage can also be used to treat BDD. 

 Taiyera Fox Pierce – a trans woman, YouTuber, and content creator originally from Atlanta who now lives in Washington – was a victim of gun violence for being transgender and has been on the receiving end of abuse from cisgender women.

Pierce believes the new generation of LGBTQ+ persons face fewer challenges than when she was young. 

“Being a trans woman and a Black trans woman is generally more accepted in the world today than it was when I grew up and first came out,” she said.

Though acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community may be higher than in earlier decades, there is still hostility directed at people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning, intersex, and asexual/aromantic/agender, said Brittney Taylor, a public services librarian at Trinity.

Taylor is both asexual and panromantic, meaning she is open to romantic relationships, but not sexual ones. 

“Violent attacks on LGBTQ people still happen more than we think, but we just don’t see it or hear about it,” she said, adding that it is an issue that must be more readily addressed.

“Heterosexual men always seem to have a problem with homosexual men and transexual women approaching them,” Taylor told Trinity Times. “Even if the approach doesn’t mean anything other than simply speaking to people to be polite or wanting to ask someone a question.” 

Pride Month offers members of the LGBTQ+ community time to reflect on acceptance and progress, but it also provides a platform to advocate for equal rights and representation, Egerton said, acknowledging the work that still lies ahead.