AIHW found Tasmanian LGBTQIA+ experience high levels of mental ill health

Within the LGBTQIA+ research, trans and gender-diverse participants appear to experience a greater risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviours compared with cis-gendered participants.

The study found participants from Tasmania were the most likely to report having attempted suicide in their lifetimes at 35.3 per cent.

In comparison, more than 77 per cent of participants reported having suicidal thoughts at some point in their lifetime.

In the past 12 months, the report found nearly half of all participants, at 47.3 per cent, had suicidal thoughts.

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Tasmania had the highest number of participants in the country who had reported having a suicide attempt in the past 12 months, at 7.8 per cent.

Working It Out Tasmania chief executive Dr Lynn Jarvis said the data is representative of the ongoing experiences of discrimination, abuse, and exclusion faced by LGBTQIA+ people in Tasmania.

"It's not that we are, in some way, inherently flawed, mentally; it's just that people continue to experience discrimination at quite high rates here in Tasmania," she said.

"This includes acts of microaggression, exclusion from families or religious organisations, not being able to work, not being able to live their full authentic selves to the more serious forms of actual, physical, verbal and physical abuse of the harassment, and that still happens."

Dr Jarvis said while Tasmania has improved over the past 30 years to become a more inclusive society, the impact of the state's "historical legacy was still felt".

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Dubbed "Bigot's Island" by the British press, Tasmania imposed the harshest penalties in the Western world for homosexual activity and was the last Australian jurisdiction to decriminalise homosexuality in 1997.

Dr Jarvis said creating an environment that is safe, affirming, and inclusive, without question, for LGBTQIA+ people was crucial to change these statistics.

"By improving the preventative mental health space, we can start to address some of those really poor outcomes for people," she said.

"Many LGBTQIA+ people may feel that the existing services don't meet their needs or don't know enough about what might be impacting them, thereby preventing them from accessing critical care.

"I've heard of stories where trans and gender diverse people accessing clinical mental health have had clinicians try to tell them that they are 'wrong' and 'should change', which obviously, is not appropriate.

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"While it doesn't happen all the time, and I won't say it happens often, it does happen."

Dr Jarvis highlighted the importance of the role of allies.

"We know there's a lot of anti-trans chatter out there at the moment. So people standing up and calling out that behaviour is really important for making the broader environment safer," she said.

Dr Jarvis said things were improving despite the AIHW report's confronting nature.

"We have to be careful about saying everything's bad because it can cause people to feel very distressed and lose hope," she said.

"But we are seeing things changing, and we're hopeful that in the next year or two in particular, we will see a dedicated LGBTQIA+ service available across the state."

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