This policy brief uses data from the 2023 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) to provide a descriptive profile of the LGBT adult population in California. Various factors are analyzed, including gender, age, education, income as a percentage of FPL guidelines, experiences of serious or moderate psychological distress (SPD or MPD), perceived need for help, and having ever seriously thought of suicide. These analyses also explore the relationship between ever having seriously thought of suicide and the need for mental health care in the past year. The brief also examines access to care and unmet mental health care needs among LGBT adults who reported any need for mental health care.

Findings: Having ever experienced thoughts of suicide, SPD or MPD, and perceived need in the past year are more common among LGBT adults than non-LGBT adults, particularly among transgender and bisexual individuals. Of the estimated 1.3 million LGBT adults who have ever seriously thought about suicide, more than 1 million had any need for mental health care in the past year. 

Significantly, 81% of LGBT adults with SPD or MPD only and no perceived need reported any need for mental health care in the past year. This figure is higher than that of any other LGBT group when examined across socioeconomic characteristics, except for 75% of uninsured LGBT individuals and about 50% of LGBT adults with incomes between 100% and 299% of the federal poverty level (FPL) guidelines. 

These findings highlight the urgent need to address societal and economic risk factors affecting the mental health of LGBT individuals.