By Tyrone Beason, Los Angeles Times

There are many stresses that come with being an LGBTQ+ youth: fear, isolation, bullying, feeling as if the world hates you, loved ones pressuring you to change.

Those realities come into sharper view in the first release of findings from an ongoing study by the Trevor Project to track the mental health of about 1,700 youth across the U.S. over an extended period of time.

Researchers from the West Hollywood, California-based nonprofit saw a sharp increase in mental distress among the participants. Over the course of one year, the proportion of participants who reported anxiety symptoms rose from 57% to 68%.

As political rhetoric in the last couple of years has boiled over on issues such as teaching about LGBTQ+ identity in schools, transgender student

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