Religion
Related: About this forumLGBT suicide and religion.
A new study presented this week at the European Symposium of Suicide and Suicidal Behavior examines the suicide attempt rate among Israeli youth, finding that it was much higher than reported in official statistics. Among LGBT youth, 20 percent reported suicide attempts, 112 times the rate of the general population in Israel. In particular, those who were particularly religious had the highest rates.
http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2012/09/06/806641/study-religion-increases-likelihood-of-suicide-attempt-for-lgbt-people/
Gays who were counseled from a religious leader were more likely to attempt suicide than those who sought no treatment at all, a new study has revealed. The Williams Institute has found LGB people who received therapy from a medical professional were no less likely to attempt suicide than those who did not seek help, but assistance from faith-based counselors were associated with a higher suicide risk. - See more at:
http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/religion-linked-higher-gay-teen-suicide-risk260614#sthash.3TY1dty5.dpuf
A surprisingly high number of teenagers involved in religious communities (up to 14%, according to one national studyClapp, Steve, Kristen Leverton Helbert and Angela Zizak. Faith Matters: Teenagers, Religion, and Sexuality (Fort Wayne, IN: LifeQuest, 2003), 96.) identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual. But only a fraction of them discuss their sexuality with their clergy or adult lay leaders.
That’s unfortunate, considering that incidents of bullying, homelessness, depression and suicide are disproportionately high among these youth:
•Four in 10 LGBT students report that they experience physical harassment because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. LGBT students who experience harassment are less likely than the student population at large to plan to attend college.Kosciw, J.G. and E.M. Diaz, The 2005 National School Climate Survey: The Experiences of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Youth in Our Nation’s Schools (New York: GLSEN, 2006), 4–7, http://www.glsen.org/binary-data/GLSEN_ATTACHMENTS/file/585-1.pdf.
•LGBT youth represent 20-40% of all homeless young people. Many were forced to leave their homes because their families’ religious beliefs did not accept them.Ray, Nicholas, et.al. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Youth: An Epidemic of Homelessness (Washington: National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute and the National Coalition for the Homeless, 2007), 1, http://www.thetaskforce.org/reports_and_research/homeless_youth.
•Multiple studies in the United States and abroad have shown "disproportionately high rates of suicidal behavior among LGBT adolescents and young adults.""Consensus Conference Addresses Suicide Risk among LGBT Populations," American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, http://www.afsp.org/
http://www.religiousinstitute.org/acting-out-loud/lgbt-youth/
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
rug
(82,333 posts)September 6, 2012
http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/religion-linked-higher-gay-teen-suicide-risk260614
26 June 2014
http://www.religiousinstitute.org/acting-out-loud/lgbt-youth/
Undated, latest study cited is 2007
trotsky
(49,533 posts)Or attempt to minimize. K&R.
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)I tried twice as a teen.
NYC_SKP
(68,644 posts)YMMV
okasha
(11,573 posts)
theHandpuppet
(19,964 posts)http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/50518515-76/americans-church-faith-gave.html.csp
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/camelswithhammers/2014/05/an-empirical-study-of-the-link-between-suicidal-lgbt-youth-and-religious-upbringing/
http://www.edgeboston.com/news/national/News/161454/gay_teen_suicide_more_likely_after_religious_counseling
http://sojo.net/blogs/2012/02/03/christian-exorcism-leads-gay-teens-suicide
trotsky
(49,533 posts)growing up in a church that teaches you are "intrinsically disordered" simply because of whom you are attracted to.
Cartoonist
(7,316 posts)Still doesn't stop me.
•LGBT youth represent 20-40% of all homeless young people. Many were forced to leave their homes because their families’ religious beliefs did not accept them.
What I don't understand is the rejection of families towards one of their own. I would think that they would know the person and how their sexual identity is not something that is evil as defined by their religion. They would know the person to be a good and loving member of the family. They would have a lifetime of memories that all families share. What the fuck is wrong with them that they would just disown them. I know religion is fucked up, but that's really some serious shit.
trotsky
(49,533 posts)When it's good, it's good. When it's evil, it's horribly evil.
theHandpuppet
(19,964 posts)Bob CollinsBob Collins October 20, 2014, 8:48 AM 2
When Linda Robertson’s son revealed to her that he was gay, she and her husband told their son “he had to choose between Jesus and his sexuality.”
“We forced him to make a choice between God and being a sexual person,” she wrote in a Huffington Post commentary last July. “Choosing God, practically, meant living a lifetime condemned to being alone. He would never have the chance to fall in love, have his first kiss, hold hands, share intimacy and companionship or experience romance.”
Her son turned to drugs and became an addict and while the family reconciled, he died in 2009 after shooting up.
“I grieve for what could have been, had we been walking by faith instead of by fear. Now, whenever Rob and I join our gay friends for an evening, I think about how much I would love to be visiting with Ryan and his partner over dinner. But instead, we visit Ryan’s gravestone,” she wrote....
http://blogs.mprnews.org/newscut/2014/10/mother-of-gay-son-responds-to-the-hate/
Cartoonist
(7,316 posts)A sad story, but the lesson has still not been learned.
Many of you have rejected the God whose "words" were used to reject you, and we can see why. But for us, we know that we are utterly, completely broken and without hope. Our hope comes in the form of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, the One who can take our deplorable actions and use them, somehow, to give hope to others, to speak His love to those who have been told they are unworthy of it, to give parents who have told their children they are no longer welcome at home the humility to ask their kids for forgiveness, to kneel before them and weep for their own sin.
That's the ticket, just keep praying.
And that's why I can't keep silent about my atheism, and why apatheism is worse than deism. People are dying because of religion, and if you believers are offended by my disrespect for your beliefs, go visit some graves of your religion's victims.
theHandpuppet
(19,964 posts)And it's why I will not be silent.