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Every family has a dirty little secret and the TBLG (transgender/bisexual/lesbian/gay) community is no different than that of any family. Often, we have been looked upon as being the dirty little secret that everyone is afraid to speak of, "the love that has no name." However, the queer community has a dirty little secret of its own, a skeleton in the closet. That skeleton is mental illness. Some might say, "But we take care of mental illness… just look at the twelve-step groups in the center, the peer educated run groups throughout the gay community, and the therapists that advertise and serve the lesbigay family." While I grant that those groups exist, and that they serve a purpose to the community, they also serve to subvert its treatment of affective disorders like depression or bipolar disorder, to the treatment of substance dependence and/or other twelve-step programs. We will not admit to ourselves that we may be clinically depressed or in manic states and that is why we turn to drugs, alcohol, sex or gambling to medicate ourselves against our own neurochemical imbalances/mental illnesses.

We go to peer counselors, not for an optional extra to an MSW, a Ph.D psychologist or a psychiatrist, but as a substitute for these resources. Believe it or not, folks, there are a whole bunch of queer therapists, as well as queer-friendly therapists out there who are ready to help you, if you would only have enough courage to face up to the stigma of mental illness and come to us.

Initially, I did not want to believe this. After all, did they not remove homosexuality from the DSM? In November 1999, the Archives of General Psychiatry published two articles, both of which noted a higher incidence of depression among gay men than among their heterosexual counterparts. An editorial in the same issue asked the question: Is there a higher comorbidity for depression or other affective disorders among gay men? If so, then what environmental factors or other factors contribute to this high incidence? Among environmental factors cited were issues of coming out, estrangement from families, lack of support systems, our use of chemical substances and the deaths due to AIDS. All of these are fine, but notice among our community newspapers was nil. When are we going to take care of ourselves?

When President Bush first released his report about gay and lesbian teens' attempted suicide rates approaching 33% and transgender teens approaching 78%, our community was aghast at the figures, and urged not only our community, but the world at large to take notice. For example, did you know Major Depressive Disorder has a lifetime prevalence of 6%, with 50% of patients being affected between the ages of 20 and 50? Bipolar disorder, or manic depression has a lifetime prevalence of 2% with a suicide rate that ranges from 10 to 15%. Schizophrenia has a lifetime prevalence of 1%, and 70% of people are affected between the ages of 20 and 40. The percentages of these are fairly constant among ethnicity and cultures. The studies cited in the Archives article are among the few which measure incidence in our community. However, I wonder about personality disorders and their incidences? Eating disorders? Body dysmorphic disorders?

I wonder when we as a community, as a family, will acknowledge that we do have mental illness and instead of attending the multiple twelve-step, and peer counselor-run programs, really get down to the business of healing ourselves. I wonder how many of us have to die? After all, aren't closets for clothes, and not for any other hang-ups, like our own dirty laundry?