Covid’s Impact on the LGBTQ+ Community

By Madison Langweil

There was something special that happened Thursday evening in the Hudson Valley LGBTQ Center’s panel; a sense of hope. Optimistic eyes and open hearts were of those who joined in on the panel that covered Covid-related topics that directly impacted the queer community and outside of it. Hope for obtaining normalcy and continuing to help one another was strongly expressed by speakers. The panel touched upon dating, finding one’s identity and finding a sense of community with others.

“I’m really seeing huge needs from the oldest people among us and then also the newest people among us,” said John Bennett LCSW-R, Director of Certified Community Behavioral Health Services. “At times this has just been a train wreck for both of those groups of people.”

Older and younger generations are yearning for a sense of connection with one another that has sky-rocketed during the pandemic.

Bennett shared a story pertaining to an older man who was isolated in his home and who ended up getting dementia. The man was alone and enclosed in his home and had rarely any support due to the lack of connection with the outside world. “We haven’t gotten very good at crossing the intergenerational gap. Our older folks, our mentors, are a little hesitant to reach out to our younger community,” he said. “There’s a real developmental need for closeness and intervention from people in our community.”

Building a sense of community and feeling safe is important. Fresia Martinez, Complex Director at SUNY New Paltz and a co-instructor of Rivera House, said that one should prioritize safety and health over anything.

“It’s okay not to come out also because we have to prioritize our mental health, our own mental well-being and our own safety above all,” she said.

Drinking for many people during the pandemic became a significant issue that much of society had to deal with. In fact, members of the LGBTQ+ community are twice as likely to develop a drinking and drug problem, Bennett said. Bennett said he struggled with drinking himself because, like many others, he was home all the time. “I kind of developed a drinking problem myself during the pandemic and it was in part of response to being at home all the time and being isolated,” he said. “I discovered it was a problem.”

James Baptiste, graduate student and identifies as trans-masculine non-binary, gave advice he heard that was initially funny but he took to heart. “If you know that your family is homophobic and they’re fully supporting you, take advantage. Don’t come out, just take advantage. Get whatever you need out of them and then when you’re ready, come out. And I think that’s kind of my advice as unethical as it may be [and] as hard as it may be,” he said.

“Covid really showed how easily any of us could go and die and it’s really made us sensitive to our own humanity and I hope that is something that doesn’t go away. You know, I think it’s so important for all of us to care about the person next to one another. If you have two sandwiches and you can give one away, give that sandwich away,” Baptiste said. “We all really deserve human rights.”