Table 2.
Definitions, examples, and numbers of tweet-level and user-level themes of health-related concerns of anti-LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning) legislation expressed on Twitter by sexual minority men in the United States.
| Theme | Definition | Example tweet | Tweets (n=493), n (%) | Users (n=288), n (%) |
| Health care | Barriers to health care, such as banning gender-affirming care, allowing providers to refuse care, and denying insurance coverage. | They were forced to move after Arkansas banned gender-affirming care for trans minors. The law would have prevented their sons from taking testosterone. | 202 (41) | 112 (38.9) |
| Safety | Threats to safety, such as violence, harassment, hate crimes, and unsafe school and home environments. | Alabama’s anti-trans law forces students to use birth-assigned-gender restrooms and requires teachers to out students to their parents, putting their safety at risk. It’s hard to overstate how harmful this law is. It will cause the death of trans kids. | 99 (20.1) | 84 (29.2) |
| Mental health | Negative impacts on mental health, such as depression, anxiety, stress, and suicide. | @[username] received approximately 4000 crisis contacts from transgender and nonbinary youth in Texas alone in 2021. Many directly stated that they feel stressed and are considering suicide as a result of anti-trans laws, including sports bans, being debated in the state. | 77 (15.6) | 64 (22.2) |
| Human rights | Violations of human rights, such as unconstitutionality, discrimination, and oppression. | Our leaders in Florida are taking our rights away one by one, day by day. The don't say gay bill just passed another round of votes, which prohibits the word gay and other lgbt terms in schools, and also requires teachers to out their students. | 51 (10.3) | 49 (17) |
| Support | Lack of support, such as removing safe spaces from schools, limiting discussion and resources, feeling isolated, and inhibiting identity disclosure. | According to the Mayo Clinic, kids can identify genders by 18 months and can have a sense of their own gender by 3 years old. Discussing gender and love is not the same as discussing sexual acts. Supporting kids is hindered by these laws. | 43 (8.7) | 40 (13.9) |
| General harm | Concerns about harm in general, without specifying another theme. | I knew I was gay at 8 years old. This erasure will be harmful in the long term, guaranteed. #DontSayGay | 106 (21.5) | 62 (21.5) |