I'm glad that the article features a range of stories from people dealing with various mental health issues. For me, it's imperative that their voices are directly heard rather than co-opted by journalists or professionals so that empathy allows their lives to be supported and accepted.
Any discussion of mental health seems positive given the way the double stigma intersects to further delegitimise identity and sexuality via the frequent assumption mental health issues caused them. In the UK, mental health is massively underfunded compared to other areas so the pressures on Rainbow/LGBTQIA+ (and many other groups of) people leads to greater harm via a lack of fundamental care. The levels of suicide, poverty, and general unhappiness for daring to exist are abominable. How many siblings have been lost and never known the life they deserve due to this neglect?
Similarly, I'm happy that understanding of overlapping oppressions is growing. I don't think the habit of viewing things in a compartmentalised way and seeing everyone in each compartment as homogeneous is conducive to needed social changes or lasting empathy. I think it leads to things like LGB people subsuming T people under 'homophobia' and ignoring the fact that the vast majority of violence is directed at the T component for the sake of politics. Equally, T people seem to then ignore the distribution of violence within our own community for the sake of politics too.
Personally, I have Major Depressive Disorder (or Bipolar Type II, yayness for conflicting opinions!) and Generalised Anxiety Disorder with some experience of mental health in-care and community support. There was minimal understanding of the roots for psychologists, psychiatrists, etc. They applied generic analysis that focused on things like childhood rather than understanding the unique importance of being bisexual and trans. I don't want anyone to be subject to treatment that isn't tailored to their specific needs, it's unfair.
