What leads gay, straight teens to attempt suicide?

[homasse]

What leads gay, straight teens to attempt suicide?

Suicide attempts by gay teens - and even straight kids - are more common in politically conservative areas where schools don't have programs supporting gay rights, a study involving nearly 32,000 high school students found.Those factors raised the odds and were a substantial influence on suicide

Comments

[perthro]

::shakes head

[sfrlz]

This is all really sad :( I grew up in a really Catholic family but I can't imagine that they would ever disown me out if I had been gay (or for any other reason). Although apparently there are parents that can do this to their own children, so I guess I'm fortunate in that I'll never have to find out :/ Absolutely heartbreaking.

[perthro]

If he were in the same state where I lived, I'd see if I could get him a place to crash for a bit while working with legal aid. But being in another country... ::shakes head:: You know, if these people followed ONLY what Christ supposedly said, the whole book would be about six pages long, and that kid would have a place to live and a family to back him up. WTF, man. What crap.

[sfrlz]

Yeah this is sort of getting off topic, but this is what I don't really understand about fundamentalist Christians sometimes. If it's really all about love and forgiveness and staying away from sin, wouldn't making someone feel loved and accepted make them feel closer to God and therefore less likely to sin in the first place? I mean I'm not a Christian and I definitely don't believe that there's a God out there who would punish anyone for being gay, but hypothetically if that's what you believed, how would throwing someone out like that "save" them in any way?

[adirtylollipop]

I'm really curious as to the methodology of this study.

[romp]

Is it the Democrat = progressive values = social justice?

I'm fine with it--it's just one of several measures. And it's been true in the 10 places I lived in the US. Even if the Democrat is a closet bigot or whatever, she'll know what values are acceptable to present. And that changes the tone of a place.

Also, the most conservative places I've lived with were also the most into macho culture. Strength is shown by being emotionless, gender rules are carefully policed, conformity is important. So I can see that those kids may already be less likely to be emotionally skilled, less likely to consider revealing vulnerabilities acceptable, etc.

[sfrlz]

Also, the most conservative places I've lived with were also the most into macho culture. Strength is shown by being emotionless, gender rules are carefully policed, conformity is important.

I've definitely, definitely noticed that as well. Growing up in Bible-belt upper-middle class suburban Texas, I still am horrified looking back on the kind of bullying kids got if they came out. The gender roles issue was a big deal as well - I remember being told not to go into engineering because it wasn't "a good field for a mother". I definitely think the conservative/macho culture played into that, and I guess I could see why that kind of rigid environment would be hard even for straight kids to fit into. I think it comes down to the adults trying to make the community a place where kids are allowed to be what they are without harassment. I specifically remember my brother's psychiatrist saying that he had seen a lot of issues with patients specifically from our high school.

[shadownlite]

Conservative areas harshly police women to remain in gender roles. They do embrace the "macho" thing

[moonshaz]

Agreed. 10000000%.

[vervassal]

Disingenious is the word that comes to mind.

[sfrlz]

While I can see why a lot of this would be true and it doesn't surprise me, this:

A high proportion of Democrats was a measure used as a proxy for a more liberal environment.

really rubs me the wrong way.

[redstar826]

In my experience though, areas with a lot of Democrats are safer for me as a queer person than areas with high numbers of Republicans. It doesn't erase the fact that the Democratic party still has a lot of flaws, but I also don't think it is a stretch to say that high proportion of Democrats=more liberal environment.