MINNEAPOLIS— According to the Department of Health, lesbian, gay and bisexual adults are more likely than heterosexual adults to use substances and experience mental health problems.
WCCO spoke with an Uptown Minneapolis man who knows the struggle firsthand.
Donovan Harmel, 78, grew up on a farm in Rugby, North Dakota.
“Being gay, I don’t even think that was a term that was used at the time. It wasn’t looked at that much, it was like it didn’t exist,” he said.
When Harmel headed to the Twin Cities, addiction followed him.
“I was manipulative, I lived on the streets, that kind of thing,” he remembers.
Data from the Department of Health shows that people in the LGBTQ+ community are more likely to suffer from substance use disorders.
“People, a lot of people are not accepted by the community, so they don’t accept themselves. They’re constantly playing part of a world that’s really not theirs,” Harmel said.
Harmel says he stopped drinking 47 years ago and eventually began to feel free to be himself.
He even walked in one of the first Pride parades.
“There were probably a couple dozen of us walking past Nicollet,” he said.
Since then, he has seen the LGBTQ+ and sober community grow. And he is part of that growth. When Minneapolis hosted the AA convention, it hosted the LGBTQ+ forum.
He also supports the sober pride movement that is now part of Twin Cities Pride and guides people through sobriety. Harmel says he believes both communities are in a stronger position.
