It is estimated that approximately 1.8 million youth between the ages of 13 and 24 will contemplate suicide each year, and at least one person attempts suicide very 45 seconds.
Many of these young people feel lost and alone, often struggling to find acceptance related to questioning their identities, genders or sexuality.
Queer Youth of Faith Day has been founded to provide a safe space for these young people to experience acceptance and care at a critical time in their lives.
Queer Youth of Faith Day Timeline
First Openly Gay Minister Ordained by a Mainline U.S. Christian Denomination
The United Church of Christ ordains Rev. William R. Johnson in Los Angeles as the first openly gay minister in a major U.S. Christian denomination, offering a visible model of queer religious leadership that later generations of LGBTQ youth can look to.
Homosexuality Removed from the DSM
The American Psychiatric Association votes to remove homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-II), weakening claims that it is an illness and helping some faith communities reconsider pastoral and counseling approaches to LGBTQ people, including youth.
Metropolitan Community Church Youth Ministry Begins in Los Angeles
Metropolitan Community Church in Los Angeles launches a youth group and counseling services that explicitly welcome gay and lesbian teenagers, one of the early examples of a church-based ministry that recognizes the needs of queer youth in a religious setting.
Institute for Welcoming Resources Founded to Support Inclusive Congregations
The Institute for Welcoming Resources is created to help Christian congregations become openly affirming of LGBTQ people, offering education and tools that many communities later use to shape safer, more supportive spaces for queer youth of faith.
Survey Shows Many LGBTQ Youth Still Value Religion and Spirituality
A national survey by The Trevor Project finds that about 20 percent of LGBTQ youth say religion or spirituality is important or very important to them, highlighting that many queer young people continue to seek meaning and belonging within faith contexts.
How to Celebrate Queer Youth of Faith Day
Looking for ways to be an encouragement and observe Queer Youth of Faith Day? Consider some of these ideas to help youth shine brightly:
Care for a Youth
One of the best ways to observe Queer Youth of Faith Day might be to commit to be a bit more careful and attentive when it comes to the teens in your life.
Parents, teachers, youth workers, grandparents and other adults can get educated and have open conversations with teens. Building trusting relationships with youth can help them know that they are cared for, that they will be embraced and encouraged to be their authentic selves.
Sign Up at Beloved Arise
Each year on Queer Youth of Faith Day, the Beloved Arise organization offers opportunities for individuals to sign up on their website in an agreement to pray for the young people who identify as LGBTQ+.
The organization hopes to have 1.8 million people sign up, a number that is significantly based on statistics of how many young people will consider suicide each year.
Beloved Arise also hosts a gathering on this day on their Instagram page for people who want to participate.
Volunteer for a Crisis Line
People who want to be more actively involved in helping youth who are struggling may want to volunteer for a crisis hotline or teen text line. One of the desires for Queer Youth of Faith Day is that teens and young adults who need support can get it, and volunteering to help others is a great way to do that.
History of Queer Youth of Faith Day
Queer Youth of Faith Day can trace its roots back to 2019 when it was started by a group called Beloved Arise. This non-profit group was the first national organization in the US to celebrate and empower youth with a faith who identify as queer.
Statistics show that one in five LGBTQ+ youth consider their faith to be important to them. Whether they connect with Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Judaism or some other spiritual space, all youths deserve to know that they are loved and cared for!
The purpose of Queer Youth of Faith Day is to show acceptance of, support for and encouragement toward young people, particularly those who have felt like they are not accepted in their communities of faith. Beloved Arise partners with several organizations, including GLAAD, National LGBT Taskforce, NASDAQ, and more.
Together, these groups encourage people of faith to take this opportunity to express care for the youth of today as well as praying for them – for the safety, well-being and flourishing of these young people.
Facts About Queer Youth of Faith Day
Religion as a Source of Both Stress and Support for LGBTQ Youth
Research has found that religion can play a dual role in the lives of lesbian, gay and bisexual youth: negative religious messages about sexuality are linked with higher depression and anxiety, while affirming beliefs and communities can offer coping resources and a sense of meaning that support better mental health.
A longitudinal study of LGB adolescents reported that “religious and gay-related stressors” predicted poorer mental health when they contributed to a negative sense of sexual identity, highlighting how the quality of religious experience matters more than religiosity alone.
How Common is Faith for LGBTQ Youth?
Contrary to the stereotype that queer young people are uniformly secular, national survey data show that faith still matters for a substantial minority.
A 2022 brief from The Trevor Project reported that 21% of LGBTQ youth said their religion or spirituality was important or very important to them, and nearly one in four reported praying, meditating or reflecting on their faith at least weekly.
Most LGBTQ Young People See Themselves as Spiritual
When researchers asked U.S. young people about religion and spirituality, a majority of LGBTQ respondents described themselves as spiritual even if they were ambivalent about organized religion.
Springtide Research Institute found that 53% of LGBTQ+ young people identified as religious, but a much larger 77% identified as spiritual, suggesting that many queer youth seek meaning, ritual and connection outside traditional religious labels.
Religious Parents’ Messages Can Shape Suicide Risk
Religious language used at home can have a striking impact on suicidal ideation among LGBTQ youth.
In a national sample analyzed by The Trevor Project, those who reported that their parents frequently used religion to say negative things about being LGBTQ had significantly higher odds of attempting suicide in the previous year, while youth who did not hear religion used against them had notably lower risk, underscoring how faith-based messaging in families can be either harmful or protective.
Family Acceptance, Faith and Mental Health
A large study of LGBTQ adolescents found that family acceptance was strongly associated with better mental health and lower suicide risk, and that religion often shaped those family responses.
Youth from highly rejecting religious families had greater depression and suicide attempts, while those whose families integrated religious belief with acceptance of their child’s LGBTQ identity showed significantly better outcomes, pointing to the importance of affirming interpretations of faith within the home.
Many LGBT Adults Still Claim a Religious Identity
Among U.S. adults, about half of those who identify as LGBT also identify with a religion. A 2025 analysis by the Pew Research Center found that 48% of LGBT adults said they were religiously affiliated, most commonly with Christian traditions, while 52% were religiously unaffiliated.
Although they are less religious on average than non‑LGBT adults, these numbers show that religious identity remains important for millions of queer people.
Religious LGBTQ Youth Face Elevated Mental Health Risks
Studies suggest that LGBTQ youth who are both religious and embedded in nonaffirming traditions may shoulder unique mental health burdens.
A review of research on “religious upbringing on LGBTQ+ youth” notes that conflicts between faith teachings and sexual or gender identity can increase stress, internalized stigma and suicidality, particularly when combined with family or congregational rejection, while supportive religious communities can mitigate these harms.
