More Sun Rising In East: New study finds that intolerance of homosexuality is linked to queer teens committing suicide
| December 29th, 2008From the department of “duh,” and via Quirkybird’s twitter feed:
Study: Tolerance Can Lower Gay Kids’ Suicide Risk
The study, published in the journal Pediatrics, found that the gay, lesbian and bisexual young adults and teens… [who] experienced high levels of rejection were nearly 8.5 times more likely to have attempted suicide. They were nearly six times more likely to report high levels of depression and almost 3.5 times more likely to use illegal drugs or engage in unprotected sex. That was compared with adolescents whose families may have felt uncomfortable with a gay kid, but were neutral or only mildly rejecting.
Because the level of rejection is hard to measure, Ryan looked at things like whether the parents tried to get their children to change their sexual orientation, or tried to stop them from being with other gay kids.
Nonetheless, this is important research — being able to tell parents that not accepting their children’s sexual orientation has been scientifically shown to be dangerous, may help encourage parents to change their behavior.
The article goes on to say that queer Latin@s, and especially boys, experience high levels of rejection for their sexual orientation.
December 29th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
Which is why if you’re a parent, you have a duty to raise your child to be tolerant. My daughter’s six; that hasn’t prevented me from telling her that there are boys who fall in love with boys, and girls who fall in love with girls, and that there’s nothing wrong with that. Unsurprisingly, she understands that, and thinks that it would be silly for anyone to care about who someone else loves, thus proving my six-year-old daughter is more emotionally mature than 52% of Californians.
This comment was written by Jeff Fecke.Report this comment to the moderators
December 29th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
I thought this was common sense too. Rejection either gives you thick skin or leaves you weakened, or both. It also can start dangerous or risky defense mechanisms.
This comment was written by Schala.Report this comment to the moderators
January 1st, 2009 at 4:52 pm
[...] 2. Intolerance of homosexuality increases queer teens’ risk of suicide. [...]
This comment was written by Five Links That Are Actually Important, 1/1/09 « Our Descent Into Madness.Report this comment to the moderators