For many in the LGBT community thoughts of suicide are not passing thoughts and each year as many posts on this blog have noted, there is a continued blood bath of LGBT teens who take their own lives. Growing up myself in denial and in the closet, truthfully, I cannot even count the number of times that suicide seemed like the best option. The only assured escape from a hostile world where conservative politicians (think Mitt Romney, Bob McDonnell, Ken Cuccinelli, Bob Marshall and countless others), hateful religious leaders and self-congratulatory "Christians" denigrate us constantly and do all they can to make our lives a living Hell. But it's not just LGBT teens who view suicide at times as their only salvation. Indeed, twice I engaged in serious suicide attempts that resulted in hospitalization. One time involved taking a month's supply of Xanax. The other involved lots of alcohol and a vehicle running in a closed garage. Each time someone discovered me in time. But for that, I wouldn't be writing this post. In recognition of this reality that suicide is not just a youth and teen issue in the LGBT community, The National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention is changing its approach to LGBT suicide. Think Progress looks at this important issue. Here are highlights:
Before he completed suicide at the age of 26 in 2010, Joseph Jefferson recorded his final words on Facebook: “I could not bear the burden of living as a gay man of color in a world grown cold and hateful towards those of us who live and love differently than the so-called ‘social mainstream.’”
Though LGBT suicide is frequently portrayed as a wholly youth phenomenon, Joseph was an LGBT activist who had built a life for himself as an adult after getting through what many people assume to be the only tough part of an LGBT person’s life — adolescence.
The National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention, the public-private partnership aimed at saving the more than 34,000 lives in the United States lost every year to suicide, has taken a lead in changing public misperceptions about LGBT suicide. In particular, the Action Alliance task force that concentrates on the LGBT population has changed its name from the LGBT Youth Task Force to the LGBT Populations Task Force, acknowledging the struggles with suicide ideation, suicide attempts, and death by suicide that many LGBT people confront at different points in their lives.
The reasons that suicide is a lifelong concern for many LGBT people are complex and dynamic. These risk factors include family rejection, lack of social support, lack of access to culturally competent healthcare providers, and the stress of living with discrimination and prejudice.
Because of family or employment obligations, many LGBT adults, like most LGBT youth, do not get to choose where they live and work—often leaving them trapped in hostile environments with family members, co-workers, or neighbors who do not accept them.
Certain protective factors may mitigate these risks. Such factors include family acceptance, affirming and culturally competent mental and behavioral health services, and policies that extend legal protections and promote acceptance.
[M]uch remains to be done to help eliminate suicidal thoughts and behavior among LGBT individuals. In addition to increased legal protections and working to change stubborn social prejudices, there is a particularly pressing need for further research and data collection regarding mental health and suicide among the gay and transgender population.
Currently, there are no national data regarding suicidal ideation or suicide rates among the LGBT population as a whole. Nor are there sufficient data regarding the experiences of specific segments of the LGBT population, including LGBT youth and elders, transgender adults, and LGBT people of color, who may be at increased risk because of the multiple burdens of discrimination they bear.
In addition to driving research that can guide efforts to prevent LGBT suicide, the ultimate purpose of the Action Alliance is to save lives by decreasing the rate of suicide in our country. And to do this, each one of us — whether LGBT or ally, pastor or policymaker, researcher or activist — must respond to the moral imperative to help build a world where LGBT people count and are counted, and where they can live their lives free from discrimination, harassment, and the violence of suicide.
The goals in the last paragraph quoted seem to have little likelihood of success in the nearer term with the GOP, the Roman Catholic bishops, the leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention and far too many others determined to stigmatize and deprive LGBT individuals of respect much less legal protections and equality. I will state categorically, that living in anti-gay states like Virginia doesn't help one's outlook. Are there times when I still think suicide is a possible solution? Once in a while - like last Tuesday night when I saw the hate and bigotry so palpable in the Amendment One vote in North Carolina. Having one's humanity and very being constantly attacked wears one down at times.
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