“To amend title V of the Public Health Service Act to ensure protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth and their families.”
No CRS summary available for this bill.
This section establishes a grant program under which the Secretary, acting through the Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use, awards grants to eligible entities to assess and improve mental health and substance abuse outcomes for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, nonbinary, intersex, and Two Spirit (LGBTQ+) youth. Grant funds must be used to (1) provide mental and behavioral health and crisis intervention resources, including trauma-informed care; (2) deliver cultural competency training for caregivers; (3) develop and disseminate such resources for youth, families, and caregivers; (4) develop and disseminate evidence-based practices for SAMHSA's Evidence-Based Practices Resource Center; (5) collect related data; (6) issue school bullying prevention guidelines; (7) integrate services into school systems; (8) establish mental health patient navigator programs; and (9) create and disseminate family acceptance and support models. Grant recipients are prohibited from using funds for conversion therapy (defined as compensated practices seeking to change sexual orientation or gender identity, excluding gender transition assistance or sexual orientation-neutral support services). This section further directs the Secretary, not later than one year after enactment, to restore, review, and update SAMHSA reports and publications from January 19, 2025, focused on LGBTQ+ individuals—prioritizing older reports and new ones to fill information gaps—without promoting conversion therapy; and to develop and conduct a federal survey measuring serious psychological distress, mental illness, mental health, and care among LGBTQ+ youth.