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Suicide and the GLBT Community
Resources
A vast assortment of resources on suicide and youth through the elderly.
By the National Institute of Mental Health
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/research/suibib99.cfm#11
For more information on suicide and the GLBT community, link to:
http://www.youth-suicide.com/gay-bisexual/
(You are about to link to a very extensive and helpful list of resources compiled by Queer Resource Directory. Be warned. There are programs listed on the QRD Director -- for example, NAMBLA -- that Soulforce does NOT support or commend in any way.) http://www.qrd.org/qrd/www/youth/tremblay
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1. Summary of Results for the 1999 Oregon Youth Risk Behavior Survey
Gay / Bisexual Male Youth Suicide Problems. The 1999 Oregon YRBS Results. For more information, link to:
http://www.virtualcity.com/youthsuicide/oregon-youth-suicide.htm
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2. Study Shows Gay Teens at Greater Risk
New York Times, May 18, 1999
[Excerpted from "Science and Health"]
AT RISK: From Gay Teens, a Cry for Help
Teenagers who are gay or bisexual are more than three times as likely to attempt suicide as other youth, according to a Massachusetts study reported this month in The Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine. Young men are at particular risk, the report found.
The lead researcher, Dr. Robert Garofalo, a pediatrician at Children's Hospital at the Harvard Medical School, also noted that these young people were more likely to engage in other high risk behaviors: Alcohol consumption, drug and tobacco use and sexual activities with multiple partners.
"Any clinician who works with youth has long suspected that attempting suicide is an issue for a subset of gay youth," Dr. Garofalo said. "I see the results of this study as a cry for help."
Dr. Garofalo and his colleagues looked at self-reported data on sexual orientation and suicide attempts among students in 9th through 12th grade who participated in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 1995 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Massachusetts was the first state to add a question about sexual orientation. Answers were optional and anonymous.
Of the 4,167 students surveyed, 3.8 percent identified themselves as gay, lesbian, bisexual or unsure of their sexual orientation. Researchers found these students were 3.41 times as likely to report a suicide attempt within the previous year as were heterosexual students. The number rose significantly when only young men were considered. In the overall population, boys tend to commit suicide more often than girls, the American Academy of Pediatrics says.
Dr. David H. Kaplan, a pediatrics professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine who is charged with revising the academy's teen-age suicide policy, believes that solutions are fundamental. "It is about engaging kids and making them feel that they really matter and their thoughts really matter," Dr. Kaplan said. "There is lots of homophobia these days, but those kids in a more accepting environment do a lot better than those kids seen as freaks."
Nancy Beth Jackson
NEW YORK TIMES, May 18, 1999
229 W. 43rd Street, New York,NY,10036
Fax: 212-556-3622
E-mail:letters@nytimes.com
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3. Researchers Study Sexual Orientation and Suicide
By Chris Hamilton
Staff Reporter
Minnesota Daily
University senior Erin Ferguson considers herself one of the lucky ones.
When she told her parents in junior high she was a lesbian, her family was supportive. When she entered St. Paul Central High School, there was a gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender group that met after classes let out. Her family and friends were railings on which she pulled herself up and away from the grasp of adolescent depression. She and many medical and counseling professionals claim stress brings on this form of depression.
Being homosexual in the conformist and often homophobic atmosphere of junior and senior high schools drives many to make extreme choices. "If friends, family and school are not supportive, it's hard to do well," said Ferguson. "When you have to be hiding who you are all the time, some kids I knew left home or dropped out instead. And some I knew were on that track, but they got in the support group and that changed." If untreated, the sense of despair kids feel when they don't flow with the mainstream can lead to suicide.
Although a recent University study said homosexuality and bisexuality are not significant factors in suicide attempts, suicidal thoughts or suicide intentions for teenage girls, the same cannot be said for the boys. The study, published in an August [1998] edition of the American Journal of Public Health, claimed homosexual or bisexual junior high school and senior high school boys are seven times more likely than heterosexual boys of the same age to report suicide attempts.
The research said 131 male respondents identified themselves as "bisexual or mostly/100 percent homosexual." More than 28 percent of them reported suicide attempts. That is compared to more than 4 percent of heterosexual counterparts claiming suicide attempts.
Traditionally, females are up to nine times more likely to attempt suicide than males, according to American Association of Suicidology documents. Males, though, are six times more likely to complete a suicide, a fact attributed to greater handgun use for suicide by males.
The University findings placed heterosexual girls in the 14 percent range for reported suicide attempts. About 20 percent of homosexual or bisexual teenage girls responded similarly.
Researchers used the findings to suggest that homosexuality/bisexuality in itself is not a lone determiner of suicide risk for teens. Heterosexual and homosexual or bisexual girls had nearly uniform rates of suicidal thoughts or intent. These statistics led researchers to conclude that sexual orientation is not the cause of suicide attempts because it does not operate that way in girls.
Instead, researchers point to other factors for the high rates of reported suicide attempts for gay males. Factors such as verbal and physical harassment, substance use or isolation of boys thought of as sexually different than their heterosexual peers contribute to their high rates of suicide. "In prior research, gender nonconformity has been found to be a risk factor for young gay males to attempt suicide," said Dr. Gary Remafedi, lead author of the study and an associate professor of pediatrics at the University. "It may have more serious consequences for boys than for girls. Boys thought to be effeminate are likely to be the subject of more maltreatment than girls who are tomboyish."
Remafedi said he hoped his research would help clinicians recognize that teens struggling with coming out are at risk. Terry Haugen-Sjostrom, the clinical director for the Crisis Connection, a nonprofit helpline, is not surprised by the study's findings. She also attributes the rates to the forced separation by their peers that many gay teen males encounter.
"The study certainly fits our anecdotal experience," said Haugen-Sjostrom. "They certainly feel isolated socially. Our values say that to be homosexual is to be different. In adolescence, finding out who we are, who we want to fall in love with, is our job. So to find you are someone not accepted by the culture makes it hard to go on."
Beth Zemsky, director of the University's Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Programs Office, said the study is consistent with previous research. She also said our culture's intolerance of homosexuality, which can often be violent, leads many to take their own life.
"Suicide attempts are often caused by the stress of a homophobic society," said Zemsky. "The study is in line with the American Psychiatric Association. People are not killing themselves because they are gay, but because they are dealing with a society that discriminates."
Matt Strickler, 20, is a sophomore at the University. He told his family and friends he was gay when he was still in junior high in Rochester. Coming out would eventually provide him with the inner strength to deal with the discrimination he encountered at school.
"I still got called a faggot even before I came out," said Strickler. "But the more I came out the more confident I became, and I was targeted less. I became more sure of myself, so I was less likely to take the crap people gave me. I would do something about it.
"When I first came out I tended to be ashamed because I was different. I wouldn't tell or protest. When people are looking for a target, it's usually someone who's hiding or ashamed."
Strickler's self-confidence was bolstered even more after attending the Arts High School in Golden Valley, a place where students tended to be much more accepting of those who were gay. Although he did not sink to the depths of seriously considering suicide, he understands why others would.
"I did see it with other people," said Strickler. "Things got better only for me after I came out. That's what I had to do to survive, but I could definitely see how day in and day out taking that kind of abuse could lead someone to consider suicide." Strickler attributed his success to the support systems around him. Without family, friends and a gay support group in his hometown, he said the isolation would have been insurmountable.
"There were times when I did feel completely alone with no one to talk to or understand my problems," said Strickler. "A lot of shame and despair comes from feeling like you're the only one. Finding other people was really key to my survival."
Nationally, teen suicide is growing at alarming rates. Since 1960, the number of teen suicides has tripled in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Those under the age of 25 accounted for 16 percent or nearly 5,000 suicides in 1992. These statistics have sent many in the health community searching for reasons behind the jump.
In 1989, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released a report stating that up to a third of all teen suicides were committed by gay youths. The validity of these findings has been at the heart of heated debate ever since. The University study is one attempt to legitimize the relationship between homosexuality/bisexuality and suicide.
The study utilized data from a 1987 survey of more than 36,000 Minnesota students in grades seven to 12. The survey was filled out by 95 percent of the students. Researchers from the University's Youth and AIDS Project said their "unbiased" findings end contentions over whether there is a relationship between homosexuality and suicide.
"For many experts there has been a controversy about these issues because prior studies were done on volunteer samples," said Remafedi.
"I think this study is important because it resolves controversy about issues and provides very hard evidence of the link between suicide and homosexuality in males," Remafedi said. From there, many in the gay or health care communities would like to see solutions that involve opening up education and communication surrounding adolescent sexual orientation issues. This could involve school programs that deal frankly with homosexuality in an attempt to end the social stigma attached to it.
"The solutions are about changing the environment in school, so a boy can walk down a hall without fear of ostracism or violence," Zemsky said.
Ann DeGroot, executive director of the Gay and Lesbian Community Action Council, located in Minneapolis, is a proponent of school programs aimed at diffusing homophobia through knowledge and discussion. She said these programs would help ease suicidal tendencies in gay youths.
"I'd like to see more school-based programs," said DeGroot. "Staff and teachers need to learn not to allow homophobic behavior. High schoolers need access to good counselors and information. We need to open up the discussion and dialogue. This research shows the consequences of keeping this information repressed."
Remafedi said he hopes his study helps bring to light the problem of homophobia and its consequences. "There's a message to society in it, to change the underlying conditions that lead young people to commit desperate acts."
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4. Suicide in Little Rock
GLAADALERT
February 6, 1998
Source: Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation
glaad@glaad.org
Once again, a newspaper's irresponsible publishing of the names and addresses of men arrested in public sex raids has led to one of the victims committing suicide, this time following a January 30 story in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. In the story, "24 men are cited in 3-day park sting," the newspaper published eight men's names and addresses for being arrested on charges of "public sexual indecency: a misdemeanor." One of those men then killed himself. The Democrat-Gazette does not print the identities of others arrested in misdemeanor consensual sex-related offenses, or any other misdemeanors. When the newspaper ran a June 25, 1993 article on a major heterosexual prostitution sting, it did not identify any of the men arrested, and even blurred the photo of one man to protect his identity.
Over a year ago, a GLAAD representative met with Frank Fellone, the deputy managing editor of the Democrat-Gazette, in part because of past instances of the newspaper publishing the names of men arrested in parks for misdemeanor offenses. According to local GLAAD contacts, until January 30, the newspaper had stopped printing the names except where a public figure was involved. As local GLAAD contact David Ivers noted, at the meeting "We predicted that the Democrat-Gazette was not only going to ruin careers but drive someone to kill himself. Now it has happened. The newspaper must understand that printing the names will not stop men from seeking out anonymous sex with other men. That will not occur until society, including the media, stops making it so painful and difficult for people to come out of the closet, and until laws in employment and other areas protect lesbians and gay men from discrimination based on their sexual orientation."
GLAAD and other organizations are currently seeking a meeting with the editor and publisher of the Democrat-Gazette. Please contact the newspaper and firmly but rationally explain to them the clear bias of their actions and the intolerably dire consequences of them. Also, explain to them how societal forces of homophobia lead deeply closeted men to end up seeking out such furtive sexual encounters.
Contact:
Walter Hussman, Publisher,
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
P.O. Box 2221, Little Rock, AR 72203
Phone: 501.378.3485
Fax: 501.372.3908
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5. Older Suicide Data
More gays and lesbians have considered suicide an option than heterosexuals (Bell & Weinberg, 1978). Lesbian and gay youth are 2 to 6 times more likely to attempt suicide than other youth, and may account for 30% of all completed suicides among teens, although they account for only about 10% of teens (Cook, 1991).
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6. Gay-rights advocate, 19, Dies in Apparent Suicide
Omaha World-Herald
November 19, 2001
By Chris Olson, World-Herald Staff Writer
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Family and friends of 19-year-old Brad Matthew Fuglei of Omaha remained bewildered Sunday on why the talented and outwardly upbeat youth took his own life Friday.
The 2001 graduate of North High School was found Friday afternoon by his mother, Nancy Fuglei, at the family home at 4312 Larimore Ave.
An Omaha police report indicated that Fuglei was found unconscious in the driver's seat of his car, which was parked and running in the garage. A suicide note was found in the house.
Openly acknowledging his own homosexuality at age 14, Fuglei organized gay-rights rallies and worked with Gay Straight Alliances at area schools.
Fuglei was part of an unsuccessful effort to amend a nondiscrimination policy in the Millard school district to address gay issues. He also was featured in a November 1998 World-Herald article after he organized a vigil following the slaying of a gay college student in Wyoming. (Reprinted below)
As a student at North High School, Fuglei was senior class president and homecoming king in 2001, a student council officer, a member of the National Honor Society and a performer in numerous theatrical productions, most recently in the Omaha Theater Company for Young People's production of "The King and I" in June.
Fuglei began attending classes in theater and music at Columbia College in Chicago this year but voluntarily withdrew this fall, said Scott Fuglei, his brother, of Davis, Calif.
"Brad said he was having some trouble and wasn't planning on going back to school right now," his brother said. "Some people just aren't ready for college right after high school, and I think Brad was one of them."
Fuglei seemed enthused about college when he returned to Omaha and visited his former North High School principal, Bernice Nared, who now is principal at Northwest High School.
"His appearance was very jovial, and he was telling me all the things he was doing in college," Nared said. Scott Fuglei said that his brother had a strong drive to excel but that he never knew a more giving person. "He was a very open person and shared everything," he said.
Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Unity Church, 3424 N.90th St. Visitation will be from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday at Roeder Mortuary, 2727 N. 108th St. Burial will be at Forest Lawn Cemetery.
In addition to his mother and brother, Scott, Fuglei is survived by his father, Bruce Fuglei of Missoula, Mont.; brother Patrick of Missoula, Mont.; sister Sarah Fuglei of Omaha; and grandparents Noel and Dee Fuglei and Paul and Betty Pearson, all of Omaha.
THE COURAGE OF HIS CONVICTIONS
Omaha World-Herald
November 1, 1998
by Kristi Wright, World-Herald Staff Writer
Organizing a candlelight vigil for someone you've never met is, perhaps, not the work of your average 16-year-old. But friends and family say Brad Matthew Fuglei, the young man behind a Memorial Park gathering in honor of a slain Wyoming college student, possesses sensitivity and concern far above average.
After school on a recent weekday afternoon, Brad Matthew Fuglei sat at Stage Right Coffee & Tea Company sipping his Kiwi Italian soda.
The downtown coffeehouse is a favorite hangout for this 16-year-old Omaha North sophomore who, with his checked American Eagle shirt, pressed khakis, Doc Martens and preppy haircut, looks like he stepped off the cover of GQ. Brad sometimes does his homework there or just relaxes with friends after his daily jog.
On this day, he was writing thank-you notes to those who helped organize a candlelight vigil in honor of Matthew Shepard, the Wyoming college student who was beaten to death in October. Investigators say that robbery was the main motive for the attack but that Shepard was targeted in part because he was gay.
"I had heard that Matthew was, like, only 5-feet-4. He was even smaller than I am. I thought, 'That could have been me,'" said Brad Matthew, who is 5-foot-6 and weighs about 120 pounds. "I knew if I didn't at least hold a candle for Matthew, then nobody else would."
More than 250 people gathered at Memorial Park to sing and listen to the words of two Omaha ministers. That Brad Matthew was motivated to act by Shepard's death was no surprise to his friends and family. They say he is a compassionate, giving person, with a maturity and wisdom unusual for his age. Dealing with the consequences of acknowledging his own homosexuality at age 14 has helped define who he is.
"He's very gutsy. It's unusual," said the Rev. Nancy Brink, who spoke at the vigil. "Saying that Brad is a caring person is an understatement," said Naomi Zink, a sophomore at Northwest High School and Brad's friend since fourth grade. "He's always, always been there for me... Every once in a while he'll bring me flowers out of the blue - like roses."
Another friend, North sophomore Jenny Hille, agreed. "He makes you feel like he really cares about what is going on in your life. He's warm and talks to a lot of people. He has this great sense of appreciation for his friends."
Brad Matthew, the son of Nancy Fuglei of Omaha and Bruce Fuglei of Montana, is a member of North's Student Council and show choir. He volunteers for the Nebraska AIDS Project and recruited friends to help out with Teens Educated to Combat AIDS.
When he is not working at the men's department at Younkers, hanging out with friends or doing homework, Brad likes to play the piano and write music. His lyrics often reflect his thought about God, he said.
"He's a total free spirit. He doesn't care what others think," said Matthew Samp, an older friend who is like an older brother to Brad Matthew. "He's every parent's dream child -- strong, intelligent and dependable. He's completely against smoking, drinking and drug use. He doesn't need a baby sitter."
The murder of Shepard hit Brad Matthew hard. The idea for a vigil came to him around 2 o'clock one morning while he was talking online and doing homework. The next day he called Samp, who had been an events coordinator in Minneapolis, for help. Samp outlined a plan for Brad Matthew, who went right to work.
Between classes, he called gay and lesbian support groups seeking speakers and spreading the word. He selected Memorial Park because it was built, he said, in honor of those who have died in battle. It seemed appropriate.
Brad Matthew wrote press releases, selected the music and outlined the program. He asked Brink to speak because he knew members of her youth group.
"I think he showed a lot of initiative," said Bruce Fuglei. "I was amazed he did it. But then I'm often amazed by him. He's always been a unique kid. He thinks of others before himself."
Samp said Brad Matthew's natural charm and charisma make people enjoy being around him. He knows who he is and what he wants out of life.
Whatever maturity he has comes from having to deal with adult issues early in life, Brad said. His parents divorced when he was 3 years old, and his father moved to Montana. Brad Matthew grew up in north Omaha with his older brother, sister and mother.
"I remember crying when I was little because I wanted to play baseball with my dad like everyone else," Brad said. "My mom said, 'Come on,' and she took me to the back yard and threw the ball for me. I totally sucked at it, so I didn't keep doing it. But she still went out there with me."
Brad said he was an eighth-grader, attending a Lutheran school, when he realized he was gay. There was no one he felt he could talk to, so he opened the telephone directory and searched the Yellow Pages until he found the listing for Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.
With the support from PFLAG members, Brad said, he found the courage to tell his mother. "I was shocked at first," she said. "Then I was like, 'Wow, you really must trust me.' And I didn't tell anyone unless he wanted me to. I guess knowing that made us closer."
Naomi Zink said life wasn't always easy for Brad in middle school. He wasn't interested in sports, and the other boys teased him. "The guys were so stupid," she said. "In eighth grade they made fun of him because if you're not into sports you're considered different. But Brad always knew how to come right back at them in a way that would shut them up real quick. He was just smarter than they were."
At North High, Brad is one of the most popular and well-known students, but he still has experienced bigotry. Two guys in gym class harassed him by calling him names and getting into his locker.
"They dumped a whole bottle of cologne over in front of everyone, and I had to play it off like it was no big deal," Brad said. His posters were vandalized -- ripped down and "We hate you" scrawled on them -- when Brad Matthew ran for Student Council. But he replaced the posters and won the election. And the teasing in gym class was stopped after he told school administrators.
"I don't hate people who hate gays. That's their problem," Brad said.
Brad confided to his mother and sister that he was gay the summer before his freshman year. His mother cried. "But then she said, 'I don't care who you date, you just can't date anyone until you turn 16.' ... I felt like that meant she accepted it and me."
Nancy Fuglei said she is proud of her son and loves him, although she hasn't stopped worrying. Brad Matthew was concerned that his sister, Sarah, would be embarrassed by him. "She told me, 'Brad, you're my brother, and I'll stand up for you. You're my blood, and I love you."
Brad Matthew has yet to say the words, "I'm gay" to his father, who still lives in Montana. "I thought for a long time he would hate me," Brad said, so he avoided talking with or seeing his father for nine months.
But recently the two saw each other when his father was in Lincoln for a football game. "He gave me a big hug and whispered in my ear, 'Did you think I didn't love you? I love you no matter what.'"
Bruce Fuglei said his son, at first, seemed "very uptight about his gayness. He was worried that I would reject him. It hurt my feelings tremendously. But I told him it doesn't matter -- I will always love him. I feel sorry for him -- in many ways he's going to have a rough life in front of him."
Whatever secrecy remained about Brad Matthew's homosexuality was gone after stories about the vigil appeared in The World-Herald. His maternal grandmother, Betty Pearson, said she was disappointed he hadn't invited her.
"She said she wished she could have been there to hold my hand." Overall, Brad Matthew is almost giddy about his life. "I couldn't list 10 things to worry about," he said after finishing his soda at Stage Right and putting away his thank-you notes. He hurried off to pick up a friend to see the movie "The Bride of Chucky."
But Samp worries.
"There are some times when we'll be somewhere and he'll be a little too loud and I'm afraid for him," Samp said. "I'm scared he'll get beat up someday. No matter how cool you are, no matter how popular or well-liked, inevitably there will be somebody who doesn't like you. Somebody could hurt him."
Brad Matthew said it is important for gay teens to have the support and love of their friends and family members.
At National Coming Out Day last year, Brad spoke at an event at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He wrote an eight-page script, but after two pages he ditched his written remarks and spoke from the heart.
"I ended up just talking about my coming to terms with myself and saying, 'I'm cool with that.' And then being able to share that with my mother, my friend and my teacher.
"I said, 'Gay is not about fashion, being rich, drag queens or queer or the color pink. What gay is about is love, self-happiness, unity, contentment, emotions.' Gay is a lot of things. I'm gay, but gay is not what I'm about. Gay is just a part of me."
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7. Suicide Attempts Twice as Likely for LGBT Students
You can access this article directly by going to this URL: www.glsen.org
A new study published in this month's American Journal of Public Health shows teenagers with same-sex attractions, or those in gay and lesbian relationships, are twice as likely as their heterosexual counterparts to attempt suicide.
The following is an excerpt from an article printed in the San Francisco Chronicle. Any opinions either stated or suggested are not necessarily those of GLSEN or its members.
Christopher Heredia
Chronicle Staff Writer
At 17, Tracy Peerson was a devout Christian struggling to come to terms with her attraction to other girls.
She isolated herself from her classmates at Antioch High School and didn't talk with her family about her feelings. She became depressed and so despondent that she attempted suicide.
Peerson was hardly alone when she tried to take her own life. A new study published in this month's American Journal of Public Health shows teenagers with same-sex attractions, or those in gay and lesbian relationships, are twice as likely as their heterosexual counterparts to attempt suicide.
"A lot of people knew I was lesbian, but they were silent about it," said Peerson, now 21 and in a relationship with another woman. "I think with a lot of gay teens, you almost feel rejected from your family, school, your religious organization. Some of the time there might be support there, but there's no dialogue."
The gay teen suicide incidence rate in the newly published study is lower than previous research (an oft-cited figure has been that 30 percent of teens who attempt suicide are gay or lesbian), but it is the first study to look at national data.
The report is based upon research gathered from the continuing National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. The questions about sexual orientation and suicide, asked in 1995, found that of the 458 youth who reported suicide attempts, 15 percent had a same-sex attraction -- twice the rate for the same proportion of heterosexual teens. Approximately 12,000 adolescent girls and boys participated.
The study recommends improved prevention and intervention efforts that also take into consideration substance abuse, depression and family history of suicide -- all of which researchers found are higher among gay teens.
"It is our hope that this study can put to rest any doubt that while the majority of youth reporting same-sex sexual orientation make it through adolescence with no more problems than heterosexual youth, a significant number are at risk for suicide," said co-author Stephen Russell.
The new data came as no surprise to Crystal Jang, who counsels gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth through the San Francisco Unified School District's Support Services for Sexual Minority Youth.
Jang herself tried to commit suicide as a teenager because of her feelings of being a lesbian. She thinks the number may be higher based on her conversations with teens and the fact that many don't label themselves gay.
Kim Westheimer, former director of the Massachusetts Safe Schools Program for Gay and Lesbian Students, said schools should look at ways to make students feel safe because research has shown that youths who are harassed less are also less likely to attempt suicide.
"More needs to happen in schools, in communities to create safer and more welcoming environments for gay, lesbian and bisexual youth," said Westheimer, who co-wrote a book, "When the Drama Club Is Not Enough," about the Massachusetts program. "They need to know they're not alone. The more we can raise awareness about gay teen suicide, the more we can develop positive interventions."
Russell, a professor of human development at the University of California at Davis, said that while the research delves into a somber area, he is optimistic the results offer a glimmer of hope.
While gay teens are twice as likely to contemplate or attempt suicide as their straight counterparts, the study found that 85 percent of the same-sex- oriented youth never contemplated taking their own lives, Russell said.
"The next step is to look at the kids who are fine and ask what is it that promotes healthy development for gay and lesbian youth," he said.
For more information, please contact:
San Francisco Chronicle
901 Mission St.
San Francisco, CA 94103
Fax: 415-896-1107
E-Mail: chronletters@sfgate.com
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