Health

Gay And Lesbian Teen Suicide: The Trevor Project Helpline

by NowPublic Staff | October 1, 2010 at 02:11 pm

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A Tragic Week Of Suicides Among Gay And Lesbian Teens: The Trevor Project Launches The Make It Better Project - Supported By Ellen DeGeneres

Five suicides among teenagers or youth in United States in week is raising the alarm bells for those who work with Gay and Lesbian teenagers.

The Trevor Project, a 24 hour helpline and safe online space for Gay and Lesbian teens to connect, is asking for a moment of silence across the country at 800pm EST on Friday October 1.

"We encourage all people who feel connected to these tragic events, whether friends, family, peers, community members, and sympathetic human beings to pause today at 8:00 PM Eastern, 5:00 PM Pacific for a moment of silence and reflection in remembrance of Raymond Chase, Tyler Clementi, Seth Walsh, Asher Brown and Billy Lucas. Events are being planned across the country in the coming weeks to mourn the loss of these young people...

Further, The Trevor Project is encouraging people to get involved in The Make It Better Project, (inspired by the Dan Savage, It Gets Better Project) which is being supported by Ellen Degeneres (see video).

The project has a collection of videos from gays and lesbians delivering the message that if they are feeling isolated from family and their community, there is a gay and lesbian community for them. It outlines events that are happening in towns and cities across the U.S.

And at times the consequences of that isolation is that alarming number of Gay and Lesbian Teens attempt or commit suicide.

A controversial U.S. government study, titled Report of the Secretary's Task Force on Youth Suicide, published in 1989, found that LGBT youth are two to three times more likely to attempt suicide than other young people.[5] Many homosexual teenagers who commit suicide may also suffer from mental illnesses or substance abuse disorders, making the connection more complicated. [6]

A 2009 study by by Dr. Caitlin Ryan, Family Rejection as a Predictor of Negative Health Outcomes led and conducted a research project as part of the Family Acceptance Project at San Francisco State University showing..

...that adolescence who were rejected by their families for being LGBT were 8.4 times more likely to report having attempted suicide. And for every completed suicide by a young person, it is estimated that 100 to 200 attempts are made (2003 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey).

The last week of September 2010 demonstrated in the most tragic of ways, that despite the growing acceptance of gay and lesbian in the larger mainstream culture, there is still a long way to go.

4 See all footage | View Slideshow

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harleymc (not verified)

at 19:17 on October 1st, 2010

One of the major problems in attempting to provide service delivery for GLBT youth has been how do you reach youth in an environment where large segments of the media and the community asscociate homosexuality with paedophilia. While this toxic association exists outreach work is limited in scope and constantly subject to arbitrary cancellation or banning.The other big barrier is around the issue of self identification or lack thereof. Even in this day and age many people who are same-sex attracted do their most sophisticated denial work internally. With self-denial comes total isolation and a psychological space that concentrates only on the imagined negatives. I have no idea how this major barrier is best tackled.Anyway kids whether you're: straight, gay, lesbian, bi or you don't want to be in any box, lift your chins, shoulders back and walk tall and know you're not alone.

gay (not verified)

at 03:17 on October 19th, 2010

thank you vermy much. gay and lesbian in the larger mainstream culture.

Kurt1234 (not verified)

at 13:48 on October 31st, 2010

The gay lifestyle is toxic. It's a self-serving sexual attitude which does not pro-create society.Mutual masturbation temporarily fills the void of loneliness, then creates more emptiness. Drugs do the same thing.The most common origins of emotional weaknesses in men arise from a lack of closeness and affirmation in the father relationship and with male peers. These emotional conflicts result in weaknesses in male confidence, sadness, loneliness, anger and often a poor body image. In addition, those from divorced family backgrounds have major trust weaknesses. Help is available. Stand up for yourself; It's better than trashing yourself.www.narth.com/menus/interviews.html