LGBT suicide, the continued practice of conversion therapy, HIV burden, an epidemic of violence against trans women of colour and poor mental and physical health compared to straight and cis people.
In 1981, a former social worker named Virginia Brooks coined the sexual minority stress theory. Brooks’ work explained why such health disparities exist.
In the process, Brooks revolutionized the way we think about queer and trans people, rejecting cultural notions that being queer or trans is pathological, the result of a traumatic past or something negative in people’s lives.And yet, Brooks’ life and work has gone largely unrecognized.