Coming out as gay, bisexual or transgender is rarely easy, particularly for those who fear they will be rejected by their families and friends. At a time when bullying and hate crimes against L.G.B.T. people are on the rise, social media can often provide a refuge, where love, acceptance and pride are strongly encouraged. Be you, various posts declare. It gets better. #LoveWins.

But even as legislative efforts to ban gay conversion therapy gain ground, and a record number of Americans approve of same-sex marriage, the L.G.B.T. community faces formidable headwinds from social conservatives galvanized by the Trump administration’s efforts to roll back transgender and gay rights and a Supreme Court newly dominated by conservatives.

And the toll of intolerance can have fatal consequences: Gay youths are more than three times as likely to attempt suicide as their straight peers, a recent analysis found, while transgender adolescents are nearly six times as likely to try to end their lives.

So it was that Quinn Cummings, a writer and mother in Los Angeles, came across the news this week about a West Virginia Republican delegate who likened the gay community to the K.K.K. and appeared to imply he would drown his children if he found out they were gay.