9 known gay teenage suicides for Sept. in USA

[Rene]

Every time I check the news, especially in America, it gets worse. I don't know how anyone can believe that things are getting better. Now I begin to wonder how many young gay suicides are never reported as such. I wonder what the statistics are for the rest of the world? We all know that America has one of the most psychopathic societies in the world today, but I would love to learn if there are any countries that can compare to this? Just curious.

Here's the score from America that we know of just for the previous month.

Billy Lucas (15) September 9, 2010. Indiana
Cody J. Barker (17) September 13, 2010. Wisconsin
Seth Walsh (13) September 19, 2010. California
Tyler Clementi (18) September 22, 2010. New Jersey
Asher Brown (13) September 23, 2010. Texas
Harrison Chase Brown (15) September, 25 2010. Colorado (No detailed information about his death)
Raymond Chase (19) September 29, 2010. Rhode Island
Felix Sacco (17) September 29, 2010. Massachusetts
Caleb Nolt (14) September 30, 2010. Indiana

[Bob]

Without more information, I'm not sure how you can draw any conclusions from this information. Suicide has been one of the leading causes of death for teenagers for decades and, with over 300 million people, I have no clue what is a statistically above/below average number in the first place. In past years/decades, the press would never reported that the kid was "gay" and/or that the suicide was because of that fact (presuming in the first place that the teen being gay was the primary issue in the first place!) so it might not even tell you much if we knew the total teen suicide rate in past years.

In Iran, for example, I'd guess (a pure but logical guess) that the "gay" teenage suicides exceed, at least per capita, those that occur in the US or Canada. On the other hand, don't look for any statistics as, according to the Iranian President, they have no gays in their country.

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2009 National School Climate Survey (Sep 14, 2010)
LGBT studentsтАЩ experiences of harassment and assault have remained relatively constant over time. However, there were small but significant decreases in frequencies of verbal harassment, physical harassment and physical assault from 2007 to 2009.

"Nevertheless, it is still the minority of LGBT students who report having sufficient support in school, which may explain why we have not seen greater improvements regarding in-school victimization. Without greater leadership and commitment to addressing anti-LGBT bias and behavior, we likely have a long way to go before we see significant change." http://www.glsen.org/cgi-bin/iowa/all/l ... /2624.html

2009 National School Climate Survey: Full Report, 164 pages
http://www.glsen.org/binary-data/GLSEN_ ... 1675-5.PDF

Welcome to one of the two most complete Internet Resource on gay and bisexual male suicide problems
The evidence indicates that homosexually oriented males account for more than half of male youth suicide problems, but mainstream suicidologists generally continue to ignore this aspect of the problem. Information about lesbian youth suicide problems is included, as is other generally unrecognized factors possibly associated with youth suicide problems.

It is hoped that your exploration of the site lead to positive outcomes for the ongoing victims of the traditional Better be Dead Than Gay social ideology. Unfortunately, many professionals have had a history of abusing, harming and/or ignoring these young individuals. They have also been ignoring the high risk status of many other adolescents targeted for abuse in schools and elsewhere because they are "presumed to be homosexual," usually on the basis of gender nonconformity.

http://www.youth-suicide.com/gay-bisexual/

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[Beachlover]

Without more information, I'm not sure how you can draw any conclusions from this information. Suicide has been one of the leading causes of death for teenagers for decades and, with over 300 million people, I have no clue what is a statistically above/below average number in the first place. In past years/decades, the press would never reported that the kid was "gay" and/or that the suicide was because of that fact (presuming in the first place that the teen being gay was the primary issue in the first place!) so it might not even tell you much if we knew the total teen suicide rate in past years.

In Iran, for example, I'd guess (a pure but logical guess) that the "gay" teenage suicides exceed, at least per capita, those that occur in the US or Canada. On the other hand, don't look for any statistics as, according to the Iranian President, they have no gays in their country.

Well put, Bob. The "everytime I check the news... it gets worse" observation isn't a valid indicator. For all you know, this shit might have been just as prevalent in the past but wasn't reported so much. Or it could actually be increasing purely due to a higher proportion of teens being out than in the past.

Gay people have never been more openly accepted in society as they are now. We actually have gay couples getting married, raising kids and comfortably being openly gay in the workplace and in social circles more than ever... As opposed to being invisible and resigned to lead an "alternative" and "disadvantaged" life as they were in the past.

The thing that troubles me most about being gay is the obstacles this poses to having kids and raising a family with a gay partner. I thought it would be nigh impossible. Little did I know there are hundreds of gay couples in Australia already doing this...

More than 10% of same-sex couples are parenting a child. Most report that biggest problem they have is discrimination, either against them or their children. Read about one same-sex couple, raising two children on the NSW north coast, and about the challenges faced by gay parents all over Australia. http://www.raisingchildren.net.au/artic ... nship.html

Gay Dads Australia: http://gaydadsaustralia.com.au/ The number of stories on this site blew me away.

Article: Two Dads Are Better Than One: http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/201 ... 953694.htm

I was so excited seeing this stuff. Being a parent while having a loving relationship was pretty much the only impending life obstacle I hadn't figured out even a vague solution for yet.

Having said that, the issues gay people face are still present and there is still much progress to be made. It's great that the bullying of young gays is well and truly in the spotlight now. Hopefully it will be addressed and overcome, as have many obstacles and issues gay people previously faced.

[maxdamron]

I agree that there are more choices and opportunities out there today for gay men and women than we have ever seen in the past. Even Florida had their ban on gay adoption ended recently. But what goes on in schools does not, unfortunately, mirror these advances. The level of harassment that lgbt teens face in schools, especially in the South and through the Bible Belt in the U.S. is still a huge problem. In fact, most of the suicides have taken place in those parts of the country. And we are not even mentioning the tens of thousands of our teens who are living on the streets. Most of these kids are either throw aways or kids who have run away to avoid the homophobic attitudes they face at home. How many of these teens wind up in a morgue that we never even hear about. If only life would become easier for our youth. Yes, being a gay teen is a lot easier today than when I grew up in the 50's and 60's. But it still has a long way to go.

[Koh Samui Luv]

The highly civilized Japanese have a "Suicide Forest" which sounds like a good idea to adopt elsewhere:

"The Aokigahara Forest is the most popular site for suicides in Japan. After the novel Kuroi Jukai [The Black Forest, written by Seich┼Н Matsumoto in 1960] was published, in which a young lover commits suicide in the forest, people started taking their own lives there at a rate of 50 to 100 deaths a year. The site holds so many bodies that the Yakuza pays homeless people to sneak into the forest and rob the corpses. The authorities sweep for bodies only on an annual basis, as the forest sits at the base of Mt. Fuji and is too dense to patrol more frequently."

At the other end of the spectrum are those countries that provide what one might call "government assisted gay teenage suicide". This could prove to be a point of common interest to fundamentalist Christians and Muslims, moral fanatics and sexual fascists, &c., &c., &c.:
[attachment=0:f9pgi889]government assisted teen gay suicide.jpg[/attachment:f9pgi889]

[Beachlover]

But what goes on in schools does not, unfortunately, mirror these advances. The level of harassment that lgbt teens face in schools, especially in the South and through the Bible Belt in the U.S. is still a huge problem. In fact, most of the suicides have taken place in those parts of the country. And we are not even mentioning the tens of thousands of our teens who are living on the streets. Most of these kids are either throw aways or kids who have run away to avoid the homophobic attitudes they face at home. How many of these teens wind up in a morgue that we never even hear about. If only life would become easier for our youth. Yes, being a gay teen is a lot easier today than when I grew up in the 50's and 60's. But it still has a long way to go.

Totally true. I think it may be a factor of more kids coming out of the closet earlier on but that's just a theory. Society will need to better accept gay people before the bullying of gay kids comes down to an acceptable level... it will take time. It's great all this is being covered quite a bit in the media at the moment, as are more and more gay issues.

before the bullying of gay kids comes down to an acceptable level

And what, pray tell, is an acceptable level? What about non gay kids or the kids of gay parents?

What are you going to do when your kid comes home and tells you he is being bullied in school because he has 2 dads?
Are you going to give him the "It gets better" platitudes.

[Beachlover]

No bullying is acceptable but you're never going to stamp it out entirely. Kids bully. Teachers and parents can try to prevent it and act on it when it happens.

An acceptable level is when being gay is not singled out by kids any more or any worse than being Asian, Indian, fat, disabled, nerdy or whatever kids single out these days... Being gay should not be something out of the ordinary or anything to be ridiculed or looked down on.

How I would raise my kids goes deeper than anything I want to go into in an online forum.

[maxdamron]

I could not agree more that there is really no such thing as an acceptable level of evil and, bullying surely is that. I can not imagine anyone on this board who would argue with that. But, depending on parents and teachers to rein in bullies, in my opinion, is dicey at best. As a retired teacher in the New York City system, I know that most teachers turn a blind eye to bullying. They are too afraid of getting into a confrontation with a student or, even more so, having one with the parents of the bully. Let's face it, prejudice doesn't show its ugliness without their being an example and far too often, that example is in the home. Also, we have to accept that in large swarths of the U.S., anti gay prejudice is so wide spread that many teachers are just as hostile to gays as the bullies are.
Is there an answer, I don't know. Do there need to be harsher laws to hold bullies to account for their actions as is being done in the case in Massachusetts where 6 teens face trial for driving a teen girl to commit suicide (not gay related)? Do parents have to be held accountable in a court of law for the actions of their children? Should teachers lose their job for ignoring or contributing to anti gay bullying? Maybe all of the above. I wish I had an answer. All I have is empathy and some random ideas.