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Healthy Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Students Project: "Teen substance abuse, weapon-related violence, suicide attempts and unprotected sexual behavior are certainly among the predominant public health concerns in our nation.. However, these same concerns for lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) youth are particularly alarming. As a group, adolescents who are experiencing same-sex attraction or behavior appear to be at increased risk for a large number of health and mental health outcomes when compared to their heterosexual peers. For example..." - Are Gay and Lesbian Youth at High Risk for Suicide? - Gay adolescents and suicide: understanding the association. - AFSP: GLBT Depression and Suicide Prevention Project - Consensus Conference Planned to Address Suicide and Suicide Risk among GLBT Populations. - Transgender Teen’s Suicide Leaves Unanswered Questions. - Joey: A Bisexual Teen Who Committed Suicide.

Don't ask, don't tell: When the Suicide Prevention Resource Center of Newton, Mass., scheduled a suicide-prevention program for Portland, Ore., somebody thought it was a good idea to include a session entitled "Suicide Prevention Among Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender Individuals." That somebody wasn't the Bush administration. The Suicide Prevention Resource Center receives federal funding from the Department of Health and Human Services. And when officials there heard that they might be funding a program that contained the words "Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgender," they did the only thing a right-thinking Bush administration official would do: They ordered the words removed from the program. - Administration Balks At 'Gay' In Gay Suicide Conference. - Imagine a troubled gay teenager contemplating suicide...and getting James Dobson on the other end. - HRC Lauds Clarified Position on GLBT Suicide Prevention.

A GLBTQ Suicide Summary.  - Experts to Examine Gay Suicide Risk: 2007. (Related Information) - Sexual Orientation and Youth Suicide. - GLBTQ Suicide Internet Resources.  - TBC's GLBT Teen Suicide Victims Resources & Support. - Better dead than queer: Youth suicide and discrimination in a heterosexual world. - Suicide Attempt Rate High Among Urban Gay Men, UCSF Study Finds. - The North American Aboriginal Two Spirit Information Pages & Other GLBT Resources - Focus: TS / GLBTQ Suicide. - Promoting Mental Health and Preventing Suicide in College and University Settings (PDF Download): A good section on GLBT suicide issues.  - Suicide among Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual Youth (PDF Download).

In Memoriam: Although many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people feel more confident now to be open about their sexuality than they did ten years ago, many still prefer to avoid attention. There is plenty of evidence that, even in today's society, there can be a deadly price to pay for those who refuse or fail to conceal their sexuality. - A Memorial to Gay Victims of Suicide. -  Robbie Kirkland (Related Information: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) - Jacob Lawrence Orosco (Alternate Link) (Memorial)  - Bill Clayton (Home Page: http://www.youth-guard.org/gabi/  - Bobby Griffith (Related Information: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5). -Memorial to Transgender Transsexual Suicide Victims. 

LGBT Teen Suicide: "I personally know many, many young LGBT people. And almost all of them have seriously thought about committing suicide at some point of their lives. Many of them have attempted it... more than once. Some ended up in hospitals because of this. Many of them have come a long way after that, but many are still at risk.  It is painful and sad... to look at my friends and know that at some point they were hanging by a thread. To know that there are thousands of queer teens out there who feel so down they wish they were dead. To know that many of those who attempt suicide actually succeed." - The Crisis of Teen Suicide Among Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual &Transgender Youth. - Homosexuality and Suicide: A Case Report (Ann Med Sci 2001;10:41-44): "In this case report, we presented a young gay patient who attempted suicide and discussed the major causes of this attempt, primarily sexual prejudice of the society and possible therapeutic approaches." - Gay men much more likely to attempt suicide. - Gay Youth Suicide Prevention May Be Missing The Mark. - Scouts' policy raises suicide rates, doctors say. - Being a teenager can be tough. For gay kids, it's even harder.- Ignored to Death: Gay & Lesbian Teen Suicide. (Alternate Link)

Judgmental Society is the Root of the Issue: "Some people will do anything to "live a lie" and try to portray a false image of themselves to society. I happen to be a gay person myself, and I likewise dated one of my best female friends back in high school while secretly dating a guy from the Poconos so that nobody would suspect me of being gay and terrorize me for it. Like it or not, much of this nation remains downright hostile towards gays (not so much lesbians, as most straight men are hypocrites who still like to fantasize about two women together, but I digress).In the end, this "lie" made me even more miserable than you could imagine, and I even attempted suicide (I still think it's a pity sometimes that I wasn't successful)... Finally, my boyfriend also broke up with me after a year because my parents had just finally stumbled onto my relationship with him and scared him away. My "Beloved Brooklyn Bulldog" was no more, and my father threatened to kick me out of his house for being gay, as well as threatening to "take me out back and shoot me himself" when he learned I was suicidal."

Transgender teen commits suicide. (Related Information, Must Scroll) - Consider Yourself: Eradicating a culture of hate bit-by-bit. - I don't fell safe in school anymore. (Alternate Link) - Youth Harassment. - Bullying in Schools: Harassment Puts Gay Youth At Risk: "Their mental health and education, not to mention their physical well-being, are at-risk." - Telling the world: For gays, coming out means facing their fears - for the moment and for the rest of their lives. It's a step many never take. - Writing for the invisible reader: The expression "It's so gay" is used regularly as a pejorative, and the terms "faggot" and "dyke" are used daily as playground taunts -- and they can hurt no matter who they're directed to. Studies have shown that most boys would rather be physically assaulted than called "faggot." To a straight boy, that's an assault on his masculinity and to a gay boy, it's like "nigger" to an African-American child -- a denial of basic humanity. And yet "faggot" is the Number 1 insult in schools, according to child psychologist Michael Thompson, co-author of Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys. As YA author Chris Crutcher says in Ironman, "Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will break my heart." - South Asian gays emerge to challenge the staid conventions of the community.

The ‘Faggot’ Factor: The chickens came home to roost at Columbine High. - Faggots in School. - Violent Reaction: What do teen killers have in common?  (Alternate Link) - Ignorance Leads to Hostile Atmosphere for Gay Students. - “Faggot” or “For Gay Boys Who Have Considered Rainbows When Suicide Wasn’t Enough”. (Alternate Link) - Faggot vs. Homosexuality: "She still does not know to this day what happened to me that night. That night drove me to thoughts of suicide. It seemed I was meant to die or be a rag doll to those "superior" to me. These thoughts flooded my mind for quite some time and an attempt was even made. It was not until I realized the love my mom holds for me that exited those thoughts. These incidents that occurred as a result of my sexuality had now helped me to bring a positive side to the negative words and physical abuse I sustained. - Are you queer?  "My life, however, was interrupted a year ago by a call from my parents. In halting tones, they detailed the suicide of a young woman from my undergraduate university. Her suicide letter blamed her lesbianism and the shouts of “queer” from others for her decision to kill herself. I immediately recalled my high school experience. The homophobia of one Southern town left an indelible impression upon my life. Queer had no relevance for me. But while pondering these events, something unforeseen happened: I reclaimed my past. I slowly embraced the pain of years gone. High school jeers and the suicide of a friend became memories I could accept; what was once painful now gave me strength. Through this I realized the power of queer. It is no longer the pejorative term of police raids. It is now the chant of a movement united. Accepting queer at long last, I finally accept myself." -  Two-Spirit People and Sexual Diversity: (Aboriginal Nurse, 2002) "Like the non-Aboriginal community, First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities have grown to fear and reject those of us who are sexually different. As sexual minorities we struggle to feel good about ourselves, to find a community where we feel safe and accepted, and to get the services we need to be sexually healthy... Different research studies have shown that gay and lesbian youth in particular have high rates of depression and suicide, and since Aboriginal youth also have high rates of suicide, two-spirit young people are at great risk. Alcohol and drug abuse can also be problems."

Young R, Sweeting H, West P (2006). Prevalence of deliberate self harm and attempted suicide within contemporary Goth youth subculture: longitudinal cohort study. BMJ, 6;332(7549): 1058-61. Epub 2006 Apr 13. PubMed Abstract.  Full Text.  Commentaries: "Self harm in Goth youth subculture: Conclusion relates only to small sample." - "Self harm in Goth youth subculture: Study merely reinforces popular stereotypes." - Other Responses. - Goth subculture may protect vulnerable children. - Related Comments: "While I was never a self-harmer, I was definitely suicidal as a teenager, and have had suicidal tendencies throughout my whole life up until today... While I guess being goth reflected my depression, it didn't abate or help it after becoming goth, as the study suggests it did for self-harmers." "What is Goth? ...the goth scene has a large proportion of gays/bisexuals, and followers of non-mainstream religions and views..." - GayGothBoys.Tribe.Net: "

Out of the closet and into the fire. (Link to Article) - Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Suicide. - Information  Regarding Gay And Lesbian Youth. - Parents don't want son's death to be end of story. - The "Invisible Culture" in Our Schools: Gay and Lesbian Youth: "Homosexual youth are enrolled in all secondary schools.  Because of the reactions of others, they are at great risk for developing emotional or behavioral disorders.  Issues and possible solutions are addressed." - Sexual Minority Students Benefit from School-Based Support - Where It Exists. - Out Front: An "out' high school teacher discusses what schools can do to fight the pervasive problem with homophobia: Take the situation facing Jake, who was ridiculed by other students the entire semester two years ago in my World History class. He came midyear, he said, because he had been so ostracized in his last school. He had a manner about him that just spoke of weirdness and difference. By the end of four months, students would write things on the board about him, no one would work with him, and he would take it all in as if he deserved it. After he brought in a crucifix he'd made in shop class and announced to me that the bloody body hanging from it was himself, I redoubled my efforts to get him seen by a counselor, but to no avail. It was May by that time, the university interns who helped out at the health center were gone for the year, and there was really no one who could help. Jake spent time hospitalized over the summer for severe depression and on suicide-watch, I think. He spent more time hospitalized in the fall. After he left the hospital, he came by to tell me he had known he was gay since he was seven years old. He'd been in denial, hoping and praying that something would change him. I'm not sure where Jake got the strength, but he finally decided to stand up for himself, to shove the hatred and ridicule back at his tormentors. He also began reading books about gay male sexuality, and came to a staff development inservice I had organized to speak to teachers about the damage a homophobic environment does to youth."

Regrets: "I was reading some of the columns from February and past issues. The stories of the young gay being tormented and driven to suicide bring me to tears. I myself have on occasion been close to suicide. I'm not a poet or a writer. I wanted to try and write about what those last minutes must be like before death comes and that's how I came up with "Peace at Last." I don't know how these kids can live with themselves after they drive some one to suicide. Do they regret the abuse and pain they inflicted or do they just say, "thank god one less faggot in the world"? In particular I was reading the Profiles in Courage section for February about Tom Beddingfield who lost his boyfriend Brandon to suicide. It makes me so angry that no one ever stands up for these kids who are being tormented like that. So I come to the title of my article, Regrets. What do I regret? - Queer youth need space, acceptance and understanding (Must Scroll). - A gay man’s accusation. - The School Hate Built: "Though born male, Angel Santiago has felt destined to be a woman since elementary school. Now 17, Santiago says that at his East Side junior high school, "I was teased basically every single day. Faggot, homo, queer, you name it." Santiago also tried to commit suicide, and this time a doctor at the hospital suggested the Milk School. By the time Santiago graduated, she was living as a female, and her grades had gone from barely passing to between 80 and 90. Could it be that psychologist Abraham Maslow was onto something with his "hierarchy of needs" theory emphasizing that the first step in cognitive growth is the ability to feel safe and secure? Learning is impaired, Maslow wrote, until that need is met."

Associated Counselors’ Archives, 2000: Homosexuality - Adolescents: "There is help and support available to gay youth, their families and friends that can make a difference between life and death, physical death and /or “spiritual” death. The first step is to sort out myth from facts. One absurd societal myth that unfortunately still continues to influence and stand in the way of gay youth getting the support they so desperately need is: Talking about homosexuality and suicide will encourage both and will put ideas in their heads. This is not true. NOT talking about homosexuality openly and healthily is killing our gay youth. Some proactive steps that can be extremely helpful and supportive include, but not limited to, the following:..." - Why you should care about Suicide and Suicide Attempts among Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender (GLBT) Youth? (Word Document Download) - Board, Public back Gay Student group: "Betty Desbiens, a former teacher and valedictorian in 1938, said it was about time the high school had such a club. Desbiens said she knew of a star basketball player at the high school who committed suicide 40 years ago because he was gay and didn't have anyone to talk to about it."

LGBT Teen Suicide Less Than Thought, Report Says. - An evaluation/criticism of this study (Alternate Link). 

Film: - Better Dead Than Gay / Legacies. - Better be Dead Than Gay Web Page. - No understanding leads to homosexual suicide. - "Gay Suicide" by Video Machete Produced by: Elenti Roldo Salassie, Beti Terefe, Garry Walker (PBS). - Gay Youth Suicide (PBS). - The Risks of Being a Gay Teenager: "Consider this quote taken from a 16 year-old gay teen’s journal: "I can’t let anyone find out I’m not straight. It would be so humiliating. My friends would hate me, I just know it. I’ve heard my parents lots of time talking about gay people. They’ve said they hate gays, and even God hates gays. It really scares me now, when I hear my family talk that way, because now they’re talking about me... Sometimes I feel like disappearing off the face of the earth." Three years later, the writer of this passage killed himself by jumping from an overpass into the path of an on-coming truck. What’s so upsetting, however, is that this passage could have come from the journal of almost any randomly-selected gay teenager. - GLBT Youth at Risk. - The trials of being a gay teen.

Coming Out Gay At 16: (Alternate Link) "Last week I met T for the first time, a young man who at 16 knows very clearly he is gay. He lives on a farm in a very tiny community about 135 km north east of Toronto. In mid-January, he found me on the net and asked for my help. After a terrifying experience at the hands of the local school and health system, during which he was outed to his mom and urged to commit suicide so that the world would have one less gay man, he ended up in my care for a weekend, delivered to me by a frantic mom. There was some major concern about the reaction of his dad when he got the news..." - Science News (Oct 23, 1999): Social factors may make gay men suicidal. - Are Gay & Lesbian Youth at High Risk For Suicide? (Alternate Link) - Increased Suicide Risk Among Youths With Same-Sex Sexual Orientation. (Google Cache) - Youth & Suicide: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender. - A Letter From The President: "After a Safe Schools presentation last year at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, one of the students handed me this note: “Thank you! My cousin was gay and committed suicide, because he knew the family would not accept him."" - Why are homosexuals often in great pain?

And To Think I'm Going Down Suicide Street by Clinton Fein (Home Page) - Dedicated to all teens regardless of sexual orientation, who think that they're alone. - Gay: Stories: Gay Death. - Sexual Minority Teens At Risk. - Suicídios de jovens homossexuais. - Precisa ser muito macho para ser gay no Brasil. - Young? Possibly Gay or Confused? Depressed? Hello!! - Crisis Counseling with Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual (GLB)Clients. - GLBT Health Pages: GLBT Youth - Suicide. - Suicide and Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Youth (University of New Hampshire Counseling Center). - Understanding Risk in the Lives of Sexual Minority Youth (Powerpoint Download. Author: Stephen T Russell). - Homosexuality Linked to Youth Suicide. (Word Download) Note: Information is being move to a new site.) - Gay suicidality. - Homophobia and Suicide Prevention. - Suicidal Tendencies and Trauma amongst Gay and Bisexual Men in South Africa.

The impact of transphobia on HIV risk behaviors among male-to-female transgenders in San Francisco (PDF Download) (Abstract): Focus Group (N = 48) & Cross-Sectional Sample (N  = 332), most having had a commercial sex work history: 29% reported having attempted suicide, with another 15% having experienced suicidal ideation. - Attempted suicide among transgender persons: The influence of gender-based discrimination and victimization (Abstract): "The prevalence of attempted suicide was 32% (95% CI = 28% to 36%)." - «Une opération, cela ne se regrette jamais» A Lausanne, le Dr Paul Daverio reçoit des patients du monde entier. Sa spécialité: le changement de sexe en une seule opération. Entretien: "On dit aussi qu’il y a un fort taux de suicide chez les transsexuel(le)s... Attention, ce ne sont pas les personnes qui se sont fait opérer qui se suicident ou tentent de le faire. Ce sont justement celles qui n’arrivent pas à faire comprendre à leur entourage qu’elles sont quelqu’un d’autre et que l’opération leur serait salutaire; ce sont celles qui se font trimbaler d’un médecin à l’autre, sans qu’aucun d’eux ne fasse le bon diagnostic; ce sont celles encore qui doivent se battre pour que leur assurance reconnaisse leur cas. On ne s’en rend pas compte, mais beaucoup de médecins ne savent même pas faire la différence entre les transsexuels, les travestis et les homosexuels! Il y a encore beaucoup d’information à faire à ce niveau-là."

Dr. Gary Remafedi's Research Contribution to Youth Suicidality as Related to Homosexuality Issues: - Index for papers: - Risk Factors for Attempted Suicide in Gay and Bisexual Youth. - The Relationship Between Suicide Risk and Sexual Orientation: Results of a Population-Based Study. - The State of Knowledge on Gay, Lesbian, and BisexualYouth Suicide. - Suicide and Sexual Orientation: Nearing the End of Controversy? - Adolescent Homosexuality; Issues for Pediatricians. - Adolescent Homosexuality: Psychosocial and Medical Implications. - Sexual Orientation and Youth Suicide.

Hendin H, Haas AP, Maltsberger JT, Koestner B, Szanto K (2006). Problems in psychotherapy with suicidal patients. American Journal of Psychiatry., 163(1):67-72. Abstract. - Full Text. Excerpt: "Avoidance of Issues Related to Sexuality: In seven cases, the therapy was marked by an avoidance of sexual issues. Unaddressed conflicts related to sexuality were evident in two patients’ inability to engage in any type of sexual relationship. In three other cases, the therapists were aware of their patients’ conflicts related to homosexuality, but the patients’ sexuality was rarely, if ever, brought up. Patients gave ample evidence of sexual ambivalence in two additional cases, but this issue was left unexamined..."

Plukun EM, Tillman JG (2005). Responding to Clinicians After Loss of a Patient to Suicide. Directions in Psychiatry (PDF Download): "Editors's Note: I am sure that most of us remember all too clearly the patients we have seen over the years who committed suicide and the deep sense of anguish that the event generated. My first such case occurred within a few months after I started my residency. I'd been assigned a young man with anxiety, depression, and homosexual conflicts who was persuaded by his overpowering mother to sign out of the hospital against medical advice. He left. They checked into a nearby hotel. The next morning I learned that he had jumped from the 10th story window to his death..."

The Truth About Black Teen Suicide: ""I didn't think that African-American teenagers thought about suicide," my teacher said, her eyebrows drawn together in confusion... Like my teacher, I guess I thought suicide was more of a problem with White teens. Teen suicides talked about in the media were always White. If Blacks of any age were committing suicide, I had never heard about it in the news or on TV. Suicide never came up in a conversation with my friends, and my parents never talked about it... When it comes to the motivations to commit suicide, Ross said, "there is no difference between us." Just like White teens, Black teens have had exposure to conflicts and sexual identity issues." African-American suicide: a cultural paradox: "Risk factors for Black suicide include: male sex, early adulthood, substance abuse, psychiatric disorders, family or interpersonal conflict, antisocial behavior, and homosexuality.' - Breaking the Silence on Black Suicide.- The influence of dual-identity development on the psychosocial functioning of African-American gay and bisexual men.

GALFOLI Enhancing PFY Outreach to Youth of Color: "LGBTQ youth from communities of color face even more complicated challenges as they negotiate the coming out process. LGBTQ youth of color are at particular risk of victimization, negotiating both racial and sexual stigmas. In addition, recent research documents that young gay and bisexual men of color (primarily African American and Latino) are at disproportionate risk of HIV infection. As many as one out of three young gay African American men are HIV+. There is also evidence that LGBTQ youth of color are at greater risk for both suicide and substance abuse than their white counterparts. GALFOLI looks forward to continuing to assist PFY in reaching out to Long Island's LGBTQ youth of color." - Cultural Odyssey in association with the National Performance Network and the NQAF present: FAGGOT, a one-man multi-character performance, is the story of Michael, a boy who, daunted by his mother, Rita, run the gamut of attempted suicide, rape, alcoholism, homelessness and prostitution. From a homoerotic rite of passage into manhood, through spiritual warfare, to self-salvation, Michael inevitably learns what it means and costs to be both black and gay.

They know that I'm here at UCSB, doing my Ph.D. in sociology (Note: White Writing on white vackground)... I have heard so many stories of Asian American gays, lesbians and bisexuals who feel left out of Asian American communities, that they become ashamed of being Asian American, or that they commit suicide because they don't know of any other Asian American gays, lesbians or bisexuals. From the Asian Cultural Diversity Roundtable, Session 3: (Alternate Link) Depression and Suicidal Ideation among Young Asian Americans (April 12, 2000): "Because gay and lesbian youth in general face extremely high suicide rates, Asian American gay or lesbian youth may be at extra risk. Many will not consider coming out to their families because the cultural stigma is so strong."- Young, Gay and APA: (Alternate Link)"Protecting homosexual Asian teens from discrimination requires double-duty measures, advocates say. Ofie Virtucio, a coordinator for AQUA, San Francisco's only citywide organization for gay Asian American teenagers (now known as the API Wellness Center), maintains that they are especially likely to be closeted and ignored. "Asians are the model minorities," she says, describing a common stereotype. "They can't be gay or at risk; they don't commit suicide or self-mutilate." In reality, Kim says, "There are many API youths in the California public school system who are gay or perceived as being gay and face angry discrimination and harassment. And there is nothing to adequately protect them."" - Asian/Pacific Islander Adolescent Sexual Orientation and Suicide Risk in Guam (Abstract/ Full Text): "Same-sex orientation was associated with a greater risk of suicide attempt, especially for boys... Gay, lesbian, and bisexual Asian/Pacific Islander adolescents in Guam deserve intervention and counseling programs to reduce suicide risk."

One in a million: What the statistics don't say about depression among glbt youth N/A:(Author: Shanta Rohse) - "Several weeks ago, a youth from rural Ottawa committed suicide. We'll call him Chris, though that isn't his real name. Chris had identified as gay and had made contact, at least sporadically, with the gay community, including the Pink Triangle Services. But it is both figuratively and literally a long bus ride from small-town to downtown Ottawa glbt youth support groups. "We didn't get to know him, so we don't know what the last straw was," says Nathan Hauch. "But he said he felt too much pressure about his sexuality." After tentative forays into the world as a gay youth, Chris chose death over the alienation and rejection he was experiencing. Seven youth, mainly in their early twenties, are present at tonight's Rainbow Youth Advisory (RYA) meeting. This is not an isolated incident they say. The preliminary report by the GLBT Wellness Project, the study that looks at the strengths and needs of glbt people in Ottawa, agrees. Depression is an issue for 62 per cent and feeling suicidal is an issue for 36 per cent of the teens. "I'm surprised it's not higher," says Stephanie Leclair. "And transgenders are represented all out of proportion in that figure," adds Melanie Pfsztor.

Prince George Suicide Triggers Youth Activism: (Author: Robin Perelle) - After years of homophobia in school and on the streets, after leaving his hometown in search of a more accepting place, after coming out to his family just a few weeks ago, Jamie Lazarre hung himself on May 24 [2002]. He was 18 years old... Lazarre was born and raised on the Nak'azdli reserve near Fort St James, about an hour and a half west of Prince George. He moved  to the city four years ago, hoping to find a community that would accept him and stop harassing him. It didn't work... Though Gould says he never expected Lazarre to kill himself, he's not surprised his friend found the harassment at Prince George Secondary School (PGSS) too much to bear. That same harassment drove Gould himself to drop out of PGSS three months ago. "My life was in danger," he says. "I couldn't walk down the halls." The harassment was so severe that Gould needed friends to escort him everywhere, and even that offered no guarantees that he would make it to class without getting hit or having full bottles of water thrown at his head. One person even tried to set his locker on fire. Gould says he reported that incident to a teacher, to no avail. Just wipe the black residue off, he was told."

Rocking the Boat: - "As a transgendered person of color, I'm tired of waiting. I'm tired of waiting for Elizabeth Birch, HRC and some of our so-called gay/lesbian allies to wake up and realize that discrimination against transgendered people is wrong, and actively help to end it... I'm tired of waiting for information about another T-murder so that I can send it to be posted on the 'Remembering Our Dead' website, or hearing about another T-person that has committed suicide because they couldn't find meaningful employment."

Movies Reflect the Undefined Sexuality of Youth  ...Although Many Filmmakers Fear Using the Word 'Bisexual' N/A: - "Bryant founded Biversity in Boston, a mixed-gender network of 500 bisexuals and is on the board of the Bisexual Resource Center. He insists movies help influence people into believing what is acceptable and films help young people find role models. "The lack of positive role models contribute to the increased suicide rates of queer youth," Bryant explains. "Kids don't see characters on the screen they identify with, and now they may." Characters may not be labeled by the filmmakers, but Bryant sees "a new trend toward young people just not taking a label or caring about label." However, it's not just young characters, and it's not just an American phenomenon..."

National Survey of Teens Shows Anti-Gay Bullying Common in Schools: - "More than three-quarters of teens (78 percent) report that kids who are gay or thought to be gay are teased or bullied in their schools and communities. Nine out of ten teens (93 percent) hear other kids at school or in their neighborhood use words like “fag,” “homo,” “dyke,” “queer,” or “gay” at least once in a while, with 51 percent hearing them every day. Four out of five teen respondents said they disapprove of the taunting... "When bullied, gay youth and those thought to be gay face an increased risk for depression, anxiety disorders, school failure and suicide, especially when they don’t have a system of support. Schools, community groups and parents share the responsibility of preventing and stopping this prejudice."" - Bullying in Schools: Harassment Puts Gay Youth At Risk. - Gay teens finding more support amid hostile school hallways. - 'Suicide wish' of gay bullying victims (England). - Bullied because you're gay or lesbian? - 'Gay bashing' is most common bullying in schools N/A. (Excerpt) - Largest Ever Study of Anti-LGBT Harassment in Schools Shows the Problem is Widespread, Dangerous and Preventable.

More Schools Take Up Gay-Bias Issues: "In New York, Ermis Valencia says she has no doubts about the value of safe schools for gay teens. She first learned of her son Damion's homosexuality after he was hospitalized for being beaten by 15 other students. He was 14 years old. "He would have committed suicide, he was that withdrawn," says Mrs. Valencia. Even after the attack, she had her reservations about Damion's desire to enroll in the Harvey Milk School. But she says he was much happier there and is now studying film and photography at New York University.

Increasing gay suicides part of upsetting trend: "Each one of us can vividly remember the moment we found out. I was sitting in front of a computer and chatting on AOL Instant Messenger. "Remember that guy Scott," a friend wrote me. A short pause, and then he said, "Well, I heard he killed himself over winter break." And that's how I found out about Scott a year ago no official e-mail, no counselor there to console me, just a dark room all by myself. To me Scott wasn't a forgotten acquaintance. He was the first guy I had ever kissed... Scott committed suicide in the middle of his junior year - a great shock to his friends, some from Willard Residential College and Foster-Walker Complex."

Suicidal gender divide: an Internet survey suggests that lesbians and bisexual women engage in riskier behaviors than their male counterparts - but is it bad science? "At the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association held in Philadelphia late last year, Western Kentucky University professor Lisa Lindley presented her findings that, of 927 lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered college students surveyed nationwide in the 2001-2002 school year, a stunning 10% of the females reported attempting suicide within the previous 12 months, compared to 4% of the males. Furthermore, she found that virtually across the board, lesbians and bisexual women were engaging in riskier behaviors than gay and bisexual men. The women, she said, were more likely to be regular smokers, to have sex without barrier protection, and to use illicit drugs such as marijuana or mushrooms. In fact, 25% of lesbians and bisexual women reported using LSD in their lifetimes, versus 13% of gay and bisexual men."

The Flummery Digest (July, 2000): "When Raynard Johnson, a seventeen-year-old African American, was found hanging from a tree in his front yard in Kokomo, Mississippi, his parents declared that he had been lynched. Jesse Jackson came to lead marches in the area, and claimed that the honor student was killed by racists angry over his relationship with two white girls. Janet Reno called in the FBI, characterizing Mrs. Johnson as ``a very courageous lady'' for seeking justice in the case. But state investigators and a nationally recognized pathologist had concluded that since there were no tell-tale marks of struggle on the body, the boy had committed suicide - the third most common cause of death for teenagers and young adults. Johnson had just broken up with his girlfriend. His parents prevented police from searching his hard disk in search of a suicide note or other evidence. The FBI agreed with local authorities that Johnson had almost certainly committed suicide." [Note: Would homosexually oriented males time their suicide with such a relationship break-up to cover up the possible fact that, maybe, an unacceptable homosexual orientation was implicated in the suicide?]

A Safe Place N/A (Must Scroll): "Nancy MacNair has a personal reason for forming the Athens Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Questioning Teen Support Group. "My cousin's son committed suicide when he was 17," she says, "because he was gay." MacNair, a recently retired health and sexuality educator at the University Health Center, continues with accounts of gay and lesbian teens being threatened, attacked, urinated on, and raped both in and out of school. "Gay teens get little respect or support from their peers, and we felt it necessary to give them a place where they can find that."

Volunteers Create Acceptance, Regardless of Sexual Orientation: "However, during the national media attention garnered by the Safe Zone program at Brookfield High School, McCaffrey received a phone call from a parent whose son committed suicide because he was gay. The father told McCaffrey that if a Safe Zone program had existed in his son's high school, he believed that his son might still be alive. Afterward McCaffrey reflected, "Until then, I never realized the effect this could have."

Darren's Boyfriend's Gay/Suicide Info Web Page:  "It is still something that is fairly unclear to me, our friends and his family. It was a combination of reasons I think. First of all, he wasn't happy being gay; he could never quite get used to himself. Another reason was that I was the only person that accepted what he was.  Everyone else either avoided him because of his sexuality, or constantly abused him; beating him (and me) up, screaming obscenities, etc etc. He feared telling his mother because of what her reaction would have been. He was gay, and no one could accept it - that was him and everyone hated him for it.

Teen Commits Suicide after police threaten to out him for having condoms.  Marcus, 18, shot himself hours later. - Trial Starts Monday in  Lawsuit Against Police Who Threatened To Out Gay Teen, Causing His Suicide - Court Rules that Tragic Police Outing of Gay Teen Violated Constitutional Rights; ACLU Sees Broad Impact. - In her son's memory - Marcus Wayman's suicide - Brief Article: "Wayman's friend testified that neither teenager was gay. After his release from jail, Wayman shot himself early the next morning." - Mother settles suit claiming son killed self after police threatened to 'out' him.

Dan's Suicide, by Josh Dunne: "Only The Good DieYoung" - Teenage Gay Male, Hated & Abused by His Family. Related NY Research by D'Augelli et al. (2005): Abstract. Full Text. "Factors that differentiated youth reporting suicide attempts and those not reporting attempts were greater childhood parental psychological abuse and more childhood gender-atypical behavior.Gay-related suicide attempts were associated with identifiability as LGB, especially by parents."

Thomas Gerald Jean, 17, of Killeen, Texas: - "Jean's jump into the gay community was rapid. It began when he ended a three-month stay in the hospital for 27 consecutive suicide attempts. "After my last suicide attempt, I realized there must be a reason that God kept me alive all this time," he says. "It clicked to me that the reason was to be a gay activist in Killeen, because there are not any. So, I got out of the hospital, came out to my parents in my freshman year and became a gay activist.""

Bisogno's Story: -"The only connection I had with it growing up was "faggot." It hurt. I was an angry, overweight, miserable little kid. When I was 14, after hearing the word "faggot" every day, I was admitted to the hospital [for a suicide attempt]. The lust week in high school I was assaulted by 12 teenagers calling me a "faggot." Two weeks later I was admitted again for depression and suicidal tendencies. There was alcohol use and drug use in my life. I was drowning myself in sorrow."

Dylan N's Story: - "A 1996 Wisconsin lawsuit starkly illustrates the escalation from verbal taunts to horrific violence. The suit was brought by a gay student who was repeatedly attacked throughout his middle school and high school years. After he told his seventh grade classmates that he was gay, they referred to him routinely as "faggot" and began to hit him and spit on him. He was subjected to a mock rape in a science lab by two of his classmates, who told him that he should enjoy it; twenty other classmates looked on and laughed. He attempted suicide at the end of his eighth grade year. In high school, the abuse worsened. He was attacked several times in the school bathroom and urinated on during at least one of the attacks. When he took the bus to and from school, other students regularly called him "fag" and "queer" and often threw objects such as steel nuts and bolts at him. In the ninth grade, he again attempted suicide. The next year, he arrived at school early one day and was surrounded by eight boys, one of whom kicked him in the stomach for five to ten minutes while theothers looked on and laughed. Several weeks later, he collapsed from internal bleeding caused by the attack. He left school in the eleventh grade."

Travis Sexton: -"I refused to mentally associate myself with the gay people that we'd been warned about. They were doomed to burn in Hell. I believed all the warnings, I learned to hate the disgusting perverts also. It seemed impossible for me to be one of them... I knew I could not kill myself because suicide was a sin. I fantasized about it, though. Maybe I could slit my wrists and pray for forgiveness as my life flowed down the drain. But I was never brave enough to carry out any plan. Most nights I cried in my pillow as I prayed for death... I am a 19-year-old college student. I am disabled. I am gay. And I am a Christian. I do believe that God loves me as I am. There is no more denying because that road leads to despair and death, and I do not wish to travel that way anymore."

Life Journey of an Activist: "During that same period, I also had to make a decision – do I commit suicide or do I accept that I was a faggot. I tried the suicide route a couple of times; I’m happy to say now, unsuccessfully and I finally after great personal struggle decided that I would accept the fact: I was a faggot. No matter how much I didn’t want to be, I was and I realized that I didn’t have the strength to kill myself. Accepting myself while despising myself. It would take a another decade before I could move from being a faggot to being a homosexual – a kind of neutral position where I accepted myself but I still didn’t really want people to know and I still feared what people would think if they knew including a fear that I would be fired and be homeless if I was found out. Finally when I turned 30 or so, finally I started to fully accept myself and feel proud of myself. Finally I was able to be Gay. Finally I was able to feel pride and self-worth. And self-acceptance. While I have never been a gay activist, I always now let people know who I am when I first meet them."

Tony's Story: "People have asked me how I know that being gay was not my "choice." Well how do heterosexuals know that heterosexuality isn't a "choice"? I trust my instincts and I trust that I know myself well enough to determine who I am. I've literally cried myself to sleep at night thinking about this, asking myself WHY people have such a problem with my sexual orientation or anyone else's for that matter. What gives someone the right to tell me or anyone else that who I am is "wrong"? I've pondered suicide because I've thought why is it worth living in a world where people are going to pass judgement on me just because it was written somewhere by someone that they think something is "wrong." Millions of gay teens around the world struggle with this everyday since it is considered so "sinful" to so many members of certain religions, societies, and cultures..."

Arthur Bob Markus: Sermon by Father John July 20,2003...Harassed because of his sexuality, Arthur was gay, he committed suicide earlier this year.  Arthur was openly gay. And even though he had supportive friends, he was tired of hearing gays constantly ridiculed both by his peers and by society at large...  But having supportive friends was not enough for Arthur.  He wrote:  "I [cannot help but] think how damn homophobic society is, and how it hurts more than people know . it hurts people so much that the only way they feel they can escape the constant pain is to kill themselves, and not wake up in the morning and go through the emotional, sometimes physical hell.""

Paul Chandler: "When I was in the closet, I remember being so scared that there was no one else like me. Actually, at age 15, I became a statistic—I attempted suicide. Of course, there were other factors, but the main ones were my feelings of isolation and hopelessness. Thankfully, I’ve learned from my mistakes and want to spare others that pain. When a person wears drag, aren’t they’re doing the same thing—letting other people know it’s OK to be different?"

Jimmy's Story: "He tried to pretend that it didn't bother him when the kids called him names like 'Faggot' or 'Queer' of that it didn't totally humiliate him when they pulled him out of the gym class shower and peed on him. He tried to pretend these things didn't affect him, but they did... We couldn't understand the self-hatred and the hopelessness that centered around his being gay. He attempted to slit his wrists at least two times. My parents put him into therapy. His therapist said that Jimmy was a cutter, and not to worry, cutters never take their own lives. He wasn't in therapy for very long before he killed himself. My mother and I found him in his apartment. He was about three feet from the door. He had hanged himself."

About Joey: Joey was the firstborn of my four sons. He was tall and skinny, lanky and graceful. He was born a blonde, but his hair got darker as he got older. Later, he alternately had brown, green, pink, purple and green striped hair. He had his tongue, his eyebrow and other things I probably don't want to know about, pierced! He gave the best hugs. He had the most wonderful chocolate eyes. God, how I miss them... Joey was a bi-sexual man and this is the reason I have dedicated this page to him. People need to know his story, the hurt he faced and why I feel compelled to keep future generations from hurting. (Alternate Link)

Homosexuality: A Growing Orange County Group is Trying to Overcome the Gay Taboo in Vietnamese-American Families: Pham, who is not gay, said he started the group [Gay Asian/Pacific Support Network] after his gay brother, a Catholic who could not accept his sexuality, committed suicide at age 28, and after his Vietnamese girlfriend came out as lesbian. By forming the support group, Pham has endured suspicion about his own sexuality. He's convinced he did the right thing, especially when he remembers a recent emotional meeting at which a mother (who spoke no English) confided to Pham that "my son was so lucky to have found you."

James' Story (Australia) ?: ...subjected to vicious and relentless harassment... verbally abused and physically accosted on his way to school; he had rubbish thrown at him... human faeces were left on his doorstep, abusive phone calls were made to his home... a group of boys forced him to do sexual things for them, claiming that as he was gay he would enjoy it... In the face of this abuse most of James s close friends deserted him. One can hardly blame them. Nothing in the school yard is as frightening as being associated with a "faggot". Homophobia killed James Anderson. It is also behind countless other youth suicides, often masked by terms like depression, low self-esteem, social isolation, and family problems." - Related information in Youth Suicide and Homophobia.

Men, Too, Can Be Victims: The Complex Issues Surrounding Sexual Assault for Male Victims: - Sean left home. He moved to Hollywood and lived his late teen years and early 20s in squalor, shame and guilt, trapped in a compulsive pattern of tricking with anonymous male sex partners. Following a positive HIV test result, Sean plunged into years of ever-lowering self-esteem, denial and fear. Miraculously, at age 25 Sean was able to start to put his life together. He came out of denial, sought medical treatment, volunteered for AIDS organizations and spoke publicly as a Person with AIDS (PWA). I met him at an HIV support group that he attended. Sean's wounds never healed. A month before Sean's 30th birthday, he committed suicide, ending a vicious cycle in which male sexual assault played a prominent role."

Cameron Corbidge: (Australia) "Cameron Corbidge, born August 14, 1973, is hopefully seeing nothing. Why? Because on May 8, 1994, aged 20, Cameron selfishly took his own life. Cameron was an extraordinarily well-built man due to his dedication to weights and fitness since his early teens. He had a soft heart and a kind manner. I knew Cameron for only a short time, but his suicide impacted my life in a way that no-one could have imagined. This impact wasn't necessarily because one particular person I knew had died at such a young age. Instead it was because at a time that I was becoming more comfortable with my homosexuality, Cameron was uncomfortable enough with his homosexuality to take his life... Cameron's suicide note was found earlier in the week, on the Monday or Tuesday following his death on Sunday, Mother's Day. It was written by hand on a number of small pieces of paper. The writing was incredibly hard to read, the result of nerves and possibly drugs of one type or another. In the note three things were apparent - that he came to believe that he was gay, that his friends meant the world to him, and that he didn't feel he could be accepted by them. While it was being read some mates kept still, while others sobbed, mumbled, or just shook their heads.  One can only imagine the guilt they may have felt in learning of his reasons for dying. Most of his mates were stereotypical blokes - guys who hung out regularly, drunk, partied, and made fun of anything that wasn't 'normal'. Picking on faggots and queers formed part of that. However are they guilty of making such comments knowing what effect they could possibly have, or is Cameron guilty of taking them to heart instead of what they were probably intended as - fruitless jeers. There was no doubt in the coming weeks that his friends were regretful. If they knew there comments would be taken personally, they never would have made them. This is perhaps their biggest 'what if?'..." - So why's it so hard to be gay?

Ed Gallagher's Story N/A: By "different," he means gay. A gay football player. A gay young man in a macho jock world. Now he's a gay quad approaching middle age. He's become philosophical. "I had put myself on an emotional island of loneliness," Gallagher reflects. "Maybe it was part of the jock macho thing where you think asking for help is a sign of weakness, instead of realizing that admitting your feelings and talking about things and sharing with someone is really a sign of strength." As a new gay quad, he remained introspective for a time and then began putting his inner thoughts down on paper. He wrote poetry and essays, publishing a collection called "Will I Live Another Day Before I Die? ...  Gallagher's novel, "Johnny In The Spot," is available  at Amazon.com"  The book deals with gay suicide issues. - Related Information. - Ed Gallagher - Alive To Thrive -  A Failed Suicide Attempt Gave this Jock a Second Chance at Life. - About the author. The author's web site: http://www.alivetothrive.org/. - Ed Gallagher Dies at 48: Gay suicide prevention advocate reached thousands with his positive message. 

Former NFL lineman [Esera] Tuaolo admits he's gay: (Tuaolo says he contemplated suicide) "Tuaolo, 34, said players routinely told gay jokes in the locker room. "They made me go further and further into depression, further and further into shame," he said. In a transcript and tape of the HBO show obtained by The New York Post, Tuaolo discusses the depth of his depression, saying it reached a point to where he thought about suicide. "When I'm driving like over a 100 (mph), maybe I could just like turn that wheel, just turn that wheel so I could just end it all," Tuaolo said in the interview. Tuaolo, a native of Hawaii, played at Oregon State before being drafted by the Green Bay Packers in 1991 (35th pick overall). He also played for the Panthers, Vikings and Jaguars, and for the Falcons, the team he was with in Super Bowl XXXIII... When Sharpe was asked what would have happened if Tuaolo came out while he was still playing in the NFL, Sharpe said: "He would have been eaten alive and he would have been hated for it." - Gay among gradiators. - Homosexuality secret drove ex-Viking Tuaolo to contemplate suicide. : "The burden of keeping his homosexuality secret drove Esera Tuaolo to comtemplate suicide late in his five-season tenure with the Minnesota Vikings... Tuaolo recently revealed his homosexuality on HBO's ``Real Sports'' because he was tired of leading a double life. The segment aired Tuesday night... Tuaolo is the first NFL player to publicly reveal his homosexuality since former New York Giants offensive tackle Roy Simmons in 1992..."

U. Oregon speaker, former MLB umpire says gay athletes deserve more from schools: ""Universities don't do enough for their lesbian and gay and transgender athletes," he said. "There is someone out there, and maybe someone in here,    who thinks about suicide every single day. I will never stop doing this until nobody thinks about suicide." Throughout his years of touring the country to promote his message, Pallone has received approximately 120,000 letters from supporters and those who have told him that he saved them from suicide..."

Crisis Suport Services of Alameda County: (Home Page) "In the classroom we ask, "Why would a teenager want to commit suicide?"  The responses always include relationship difficulties, family pressure, and isolation from peers. For lesbian and gay youth these problems can be greatly magnified and compounded by issues specific to their sexual identity. In order to begin to reduce the risk of suicide among lesbian and gay youth, we need to fight the stigma and work to end discrimination against all sexual orientations. In our education program, we often discuss with students why a lesbian or  gay teenager might be feeling suicidal and we encourage teens to be open and accepting of their peers, whatever their orientation."

White Ribbon Gay-Teen Suicide Awareness Campaign. (Author's Home Pages) - The creator of the White Ribbon site writes: "Back when I was horribly closeted - so much so that I wouldn't even admit my homosexuality to myself let along anyone else - I was a sad depressed suicidal self loathing person. I was constantly trying to reconcile my religion with my sexuality and vice versa. I had these 2 halves of my self at war with each other and they were tearing me apart. They drove me to drop out of school, experiment with alcohol and tobacco, and attempt suicide. I spent the month of March 1994 in a mental hospital after overdosing on my antidepressants." - Suicide and Homosexual Teens: What can biology teachers do to help? (American Biology Teacher, March, 2001: PDF Download). - Teen Suicide Resources.

Gabriel Rotello (The Advocate, January 16, 01): "In speaking to PFLAG chapters over the years, I have met several parents of gay kids who committed suicide, and their refrain is always sadly similar: 'If only we had known. Why didn’t we send the right signals to our children, telling them we would have loved them no matter what?'"

Youth Suicide Prevention (Word Download from Atlanta's YouthPride.org): For many years, we have known that young people, particularly GLBTQ youth, are at an increased risk of committing suicide... A Gay Teen Suicide Note (Must Scroll). Introduction to Suicide Note: "The following suicide note was written by Steven, a gay 16-year-old high school student. After he wrote this note he attempted suicide by taking an overdose of medication. He survived. He was hospitalized, treated, and not long after his suicide attempt, moved with his family to another state. Steven was suffering from severe depression when he wrote this note. Anyone who was mistreated, bullied, threatened, and emotionally tortured like Steven could very easily become severely depressed - and suicidal. The note has been left intact, complete with misspellings, grammatical errors, and profanity, except for inserting "[name removed]" in the place of some names. Steven's suicide note is extremely disquieting to read. And it is one more reminder of the outrageous bullying LGBTQ youth endure." - YouthPride’s New Major Initiatives: Suicide Prevention, Expansion of Project SOLVE, and State-Wide Advocacy (PDF Download).

Book: Prayers for Bobby - 1995  - Feature Cover Story related to book. - Prayers for Bobby - 1995 (N/A):  "I can't ever let anyone find out that I'm not straight. It would be so humiliating. My friends would hate me. They might even want to beat me up. And my family? I've overheard them.... They've said they hate gays, and even God hates gays, too. Gays are bad, and God sends bad."   The first line of Craig Wilson's 1995 USA Today feature story,  - "Prayers for Bobby": A sad story worth telling. (Amazon.com Reference) - "Prayers for Bobby," or the book that was almost about me. - "A Gay Son's Suicide, A Mom's Rebirth." "Soon a tractor-trailer roared toward him on the freeway below and, with perfect timing, he jumped the 25 feet into its path. The impact ripped away most of his clothes. He was killed instantly."

Interview with the author of Prayers for Bobby. - A film about Bobby's life and death? Problems are expected from the ones who want the murderous anti-gay tradition to continue. NBC, Susan Sarandon sign on to make film about gay youth's suicide. - Sarandon's prayers for Bobby. - "The silence leads Mary Griffith to say that the situation is still ripe to produce another Bobby Griffith. "I don't think it is any better," she says, an opinion mostly shared by author Leroy Aarons, whose book on Mary Griffith's story, Prayers for Bobby, will be out in June." (From: Out in School - Author Leroy Aarons' 'Prayers for Bobby' heads for network television. -  J.A. Kawarsky: "His composition "Prayers for Bobby" premiered in 1996 with Marlo Thomas narrating and has been performed numerous times within the past two years throughout North America."

Jim Wheeler: How grief for gay son moved her to activism: "Wheeler's aim was to get the Pennsylvania Republican - who in April had associated homosexuality with incest, polygamy and adultery - to watch the documentary she'd brought. "Jim in Bold" weaves together stories of gay youth across America with the saga of Wheeler's son Jim. Cruelly taunted for being gay, he killed himself in 1997, five months after his high school graduation... "We all knew that Jim was different from the time he was little," Wheeler said in an interview in her home near Lebanon. An avid birder, she has turned three acres surrounding the house into a hummingbird and butterfly sanctuary. Still more comfortable in the nurturing role than in the spotlight, Wheeler plies a visitor with doughnuts and chicken sandwiches, and peppers her with personal questions. Jim played with Barbies and took dance lessons. He was a talented artist, his mother said. "He didn't like typical boy things," said Wheeler. "He was into girl things, and that was OK when he was younger. But when he got older people started making fun of him." As a teen, he had multiple piercings and dyed his hair vivid hues. Said Wheeler, "He just shouted out, 'I'm different.'" When he was 16, Jim confided to her that he was gay. "I said, 'We all know that, and it's OK with us. We're just worried because we know how cruel the world is." ... "He wanted to be normal," Jennifer Wheeler said. "And in his eyes, I guess being normal was not being gay. He could not see any future for himself. He was miserable being gay. He hated himself for that. It wasn't our family that instilled that in him.""

Susan's Story (St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Asutin, Texas): "She also remembered her friend John and knew that his spirit was rejoicing along with her today. How she wished she had been able to share this entire journey with him. But John was dead. He had committed suicide years ago because he could not reconcile his homosexuality with the teachings of the church he had grown up loving. The church had stopped loving him when they found out he was gay. The church was not the only place where he had experienced rejection either. His family refused to claim him as their son and brother and many friends had walked away from him when they had found out too. Susan had stood by him but even Susan could not convince him that God still loved him because even he had begun to believe that he was unloveable."

World of China Doll/Houston: "One day, I met a friend who was my age. At that time I was 17. He had some family problems, but he seemed not to express himself. I always had a feeling that he was Gay and he knew I was completely Gay, but we seemed to keep that very low key. I went to a night club with another friend of mine one night and discovered my troubled friend was in that club dancing as a stripper, and for the first time I met his lover. They were a young couple living together in a small apartment. They were both runaways. (In Texas you can emanicipate at the age of 17 in the court of law.) They were both from a very wealthy family. I learned a lot from them both. After graduating from high school and going to college for 2 years, I began to fall back into the club scene and began to discover myself again. I went back to the club to look for my two lost friends who I dearly loved. It took me awhile. When I found one of them on a corner, he told me that his lover had committed suicide, due to the fact that his parents had found out that he was Gay. I was very upset that a young man like him with a high education would end his life in tragedy. I stayed in contact with his lover for awhile to find out more about his death and decided to go out into the community and be a public speaker.

Glorify God vs. Glorify Humankind: "My brother, Mark, wasn't gay. He was, as my mom says, "too sensitive to survive in this world." At the direction of others he was always trying to "toughen up" and be "more of a man." But the boxing, the hunting, the football and all the other "macho" activities never took. He didn't fit the male stereotype and knew he never would. I wish he would have had the opportunity to spend time with a man like the one he would have grown up to be. Mark was 15 when he committed suicide. He left me a note saying he didn't fit in and he would never grow up to fit others' expectations of him."

Nick Marulli, Officer First Class, U.S.Navy (Retired): "I did not accept my homosexuality until my last tour. Those years were difficult. I couldn't seek counseling because I had to use military medical facilities and didn't know who I could trust. Before I retired, my best friend - an army officer who was also struggling to accept his homosexuality -  committed suicide."

Arresting Behavior: Many victims of police sex raids fare even worse. Outside the big cities, it’s common for  newspapers to publish the names of men taken into custody during police stings, making no distinction between those arrested in private commercial establishments (sex clubs, closed video booths in adult porn stores) and those arrested in public restrooms or public parks. One man committed suicide last January in Pulaski County, Ark., after the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in Little Rock published his name among those arrested in a sex raid. The newspaper, by the way, did not report his suicide and ignored requests from five major gay organizations to discuss its policy of selective publication of the names of men arrested for misdemeanors."

Gay leader, 19, dies in apparent suicide - (Brad Matthew Fuglei - Gay.com / PlanetOut.com Network - Tuesday, November 20, 2001): - The courage of his convictions. - Capitol Rally Touts Homosexual Rights N/A. - Students Demand Gay-Rights Policy. Gay-rights advocate, 19, Dies in Apparent Suicide. - Admired Teen Leader Kills Himself (Must Scroll).

Kyle Dalton Richmond: Suicide spurs LGBT support: "And the recent suicide of University student Kyle Dalton Richmond - who community members say was suffering from depression and was questioning his sexual orientation, but may have chosen suicide for any number of reasons expanding far beyond sexuality -- has generated concern about the campus atmosphere for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students. Richmond, a resident of Junction City, committed suicide May 15, and a memorial service was held for him Thursday. According to his mother, Richmond was severely depressed at least as far back as March and had previously attempted to commit suicide. He had also gone to the University Health Center and was prescribed anti-depressants."

Jacob Orosco: - For teen gay activist, a sudden, baffling end: "Why Orosco killed himself remains a mystery. He didn't leave a note. And his mother (he was estranged from his father) has kept her thoughts to herself." - To Rolling Stone: "In an article filled with frightening portraits of the abuse gay and lesbian youth face ("To Be Young and Gay," RS 792), and with just as many examples of the bravery with which they triumph over that abuse, the most chilling information was the possibility that Jacob Orosco committed suicide because he may not have been exclusively gay, and feared renewed ostracism, this time from the gay community... Whether or not Jacob Orosco had sexual attractions to both men and women, some people are bisexual." - The front page of the October 18 Philadelphia Inquirer featured a lengthy and insightful article about Jacob Orosco..." (Alternate Link)

Lexicon Devil: The Fast Times and Short Life of Darby Crash and the Germs: "Indeed, one of the innumerable problems that led to Crash's suicide was that he was deeply closeted, a fact that had long been suspected and is shown definitively here for the first time. The concealment of his homosexuality is particularly sad given the rhetoric of sexual liberation that went with L.A. punk. But in his own way, he was a mini-sex-symbol, and coming out would have compromised his ability to mooch rides from girls."

Before Bobby Many Had Been Killing Themselves? Kenny's Story: "He quickly dragged Ken outside and began giving him artificial respiration. But it was too late. The boy whom we had treated as if he didn't exist, now really didn't exist... In the intervening years since my son's death, I have read dozens of articles in newspapers and magazines that discussed what we now call "gays." Are they born that way? If so, is it the cruellest imaginable jest of God? ...Or does the Lord select special people to face special trials? I don't know.  I do know, though, that when I think back to that cheerful, friendly littlle blond-haired boy, so eager to please his dad and me with those wonderful report cards, or the brilliant young man with limitless opportunity stretching out before him ...well, something very wrong happened back in 1972 and 1973."

Lost Son?..a bastard child's journey of Hope: "To make everyone happy, and I thought myself, I dated girls in high school and early years of college all the time knowing I might be lying to them, as well as myself. I came close to marrying one of those girls...what a life of hell I would have put her through, if it had happened. I remember the first time a fellow student called me a "FAG"...it was like a dagger through the heart...I didn't want to be one of them!!! I played sports and was active in many student activities, like other students....yet inside, I knew somehow I was different. In 1970, at the age of 20, after years of struggle and torment, it all became too much for me to bear. I attempted suicide. If my college roommate had not found me, I would have died. I spent the night alone, drinking "boilermakers", "whiskey sours" to wash down the "pills." I went along until I overdosed, and went into convulsions and then lapsed into a coma. He had me rushed to the hospital where they pumped my stomach. I lay in a coma for over 2 days, teetering on the brink of death. Suddenly, I came out of it. The doctors indicated if my roommate had found me but 10 minutes later than he did, I would have died there on the dorm room floor of alcohol poisoning and overdosing...as I had planned."

Edmund White Speaks with Edmund White: "It would be a mistake to say, as some gay critics have suggested, that I turned to "straight" fiction because my gay work had been rejected. To be sure, some gay editors such as the late Peter Kameny later told me they'd read and liked the first Beautiful Room but they'd been afraid to speak up for it lest their colleagues suspect them of homosexuality (Peter later committed suicide by throwing himself in front of a subway, a death surely linked to his inability to accept himself)."

Papa Bear - Remembering Dr. Stuart E. Nichols, Jr. (Must Scroll): "The other turning point for Stu came when a young man came to him for psychiatric help. The patient was suicidal and the reason was his homosexuality. Stu said he was guarded in dealing with the young man, lest his own homosexuality be exposed. Two days later, he said, the patient committed suicide."

History of SOLGA (Society of Lesbian and Gay Anthropologists): "Our folk history also records the stunned silence of the audience. Although Stonewall had occurred a year before, active discrimination against lesbian and gay anthropologists kept the vast majority of lesbigay anthros securely in the professional closet. Indeed, many of the founders of ARGOH / SOLGA never secured full time, academic jobs. One was fired for coming out and took to lawyering instead; another committed suicide. Many paid a real and dear price for their involvement in this political and intellectual movement, and we have lost all too many colleagues to AIDS. For these reasons, it has taken 20 years for SOLGA to "come out" within the AAA.

The Einstein of Sex (Magnus Hirschfeld): "Further trauma ensues when, soon after setting up himself as a doctor in Berlin in 1893, he is waylaid outside his apartment at night by a soldier who is desperately disturbed by his homosexuality. Hirschfeld resists the soldier’s pleading for a consultation there and then, telling him to come to his surgery the next day. Overnight, however, the soldier commits suicide... With the Nazis publicly denouncing Hirschfeld as one of the country’s leading "Jewish criminals", which was effectively a death sentence, friends advised him not to return to Germany. He went to the south of France instead, where he died suddenly of a stroke in 1935. His lover Karl Giese committed suicide in 1938, while on the run from the Nazis."

Alan Turing: The Enigma: "Cited in Hodges (mathematics, Wadham College, Oxford) examines both the heroic and tragic sides of Turing's life, from his decryption of the German U- boat Enigma cipher, to his tragic suicide (caused in part by his detection as a homosexual and subsequent mandatory hormone therapy to suppress his libido)...On June 7, 1954, Turing committed suicide by eating an apple dosed with cyanide. He was only 42 years old. // In a world of rational people who value truth and reason over religious superstition and ignorant prejudice, Alan Turing would most likely have died rich & famous. Instead he died by his own hand, anguished and alone, victimized and persecuted by the very society he uplifted and gave so generously to."

Biography: Karl Maria Kertbeny (1824-82): "In his adulthood, he wrote about a twenty year old friend he met while he was learning to sell books. Karl wrote that his friend had "abnormal tastes I would have never in my dreams suspected". Karl's friend killed himself and left a note explaining that a blackmailer had extorted all of his money and that he had to commit suicide to avoid exposure and family shame.

The Yeldham Scandal: "Evidence subsequently given to the commission revealed that Yeldham was bisexual. A married man with a family he led a clandestine double life indulging in public exhibitionism (Sydney Morning Herald 12 Dec 96). He was well known in the gay community. He frequented the homosexual beat where he purchased sexual favours from young men and schoolboys (Sydney Morning Herald 7 Dec 96). His conduct had been so public that at least 7 instances were described to the commission. He had been apprehended by police on several occasions over a period of 11 years. While many knew of his conduct his wife, children and the public did not. The problem is not that he was gay but that his conduct in public was such that he placed himself at risk of blackmail or improper influence... Mr Yeldham, a retired supreme court judge in New South Wales committed suicide when he was subpoenaed to appear before a Royal Commission inquiring into police corruption and the protection of paedophiles. The reason for this became apparent during evidence..."

Prescription for Suicide: The plain fact of it is that this society wants homosexual people to die. It kills us directly, as it killed Harvey Milk (who prophesied not only his own murder but the method his murderer would use), or indirectly, in a variety of ways. One of the most time-honoured and effective of those ways has been suicide. - Suicide and the Homosexual Adolescent - A Web-Based Paper for Psychology 156b at Yale University N/A. - Suicide in Little Rock. - Playing gay in prime time: "I get letters from gay brothers who are 36 years old and they're having thoughts about committing suicide," noted Mathew St. Patrick, who plays LAPD officer Keith Charles on HBO's "Six Feet Under." "Its part of the reason I thank God that I got hit over the head with this role, because it gives me an opportunity to let people know that love is love. And hopefully they won't commit suicide and they can get away from their families who are so negative about the choices we make and the people we are."

From: Growing Up Gay: "By the time I got to junior high school (seventh grade), I had learned what the word "gay" meant to everyone I went to school with. It meant that you were a "fag". You were someone to be laughed at, joked about, beaten up, and taunted. It meant that you were sick, perverted, an abomination, and unlovable..". Most gay people learn to "pass".... But even for those of us who learned the lesson of "passing" there was a price to pay: self-loathing. And what does self-loathing lead to? ...to teenage suicide.  From "Pooftah", "Wanker", "Girl": Homophobic harassment and violence in schools:  "Several [Australian gay and lesbian youth interviewed] reported attempting or contemplating suicide...  "I was school captain at my high school and it was always assumed I was straight... After leaving school I had to confront my sexuality and because of the constant day to day degrading of homosexuals that occurs at high school, and the long term charade that I was forced to create, I felt a very large amount of self-loathing to the point of attempted suicide..." (Note: Not available, but was at the Robert Mangelsdorf's Home Page. Reference: Ward, N. (1995). "'Pooftah', 'Wanker', 'Girl': Homophobic Harassment and Violence in Schools". In Girls & Boys: Challenging Perspective, Building Partnerships. Proceedings of the Third Conference of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Gender Equity, Brisbane: Ministerial Advisory Committee on Gender Equity.) - Related information in: Policing Sex/Gender Boundaries: Addressing Homophobia in Schools.
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Letter from 13-year-old male: "Just recently, I realized that I was gay. It's like I always knew it, but recently it really hit me and now I am totally sure of it. Ever since this so called "revelation," my life turned to hell. It seems as if everything just went wrong at the same time and I have no idea what to do... Right now, I am so overwhelmed with problems and issues that I have no idea whatsoever about what I am supposed to do. So for the past month, everyday I have thought about suicide and just making my life end. I mean, the past month, I have spent at least, literally at least, an hour a day crying about all of this crap going on, and what to do! It just seems that everything will then simplify if I kill myself. But still, one of my main problems is just the fact I found out I am gay, and I have no idea what to do. What if everyone I know and love rejects me? Is it normal? who do I tell? I really REALLY need some help, advice, or refferals! please email me back, i will greatly appreciate it.  Thanks."

Young Gay Suicide: Angel of the North: "He wasn't out to his parents, until a family friend saw him with his boyfriend and told them. They screamed and shouted, and he wept, he went to his room and cried. To each friend he wrote a note, explaining what had happened, and why. He wrote a funeral plan, and a will. To his parents he wrote a single note... . I hate Karl's parents, I never met them, I never even spoken 2 things to Karl, but I still hate them. Not just because they did not accept him, and drove him to suicide, but because even if death, they did not have the dignity to treat him with respect. I honestly hope you hate them too. Karl truly was an Angel of the North, and they clipped his wings."

Silvan writes:  "I have known several gay men who committed suicide because they couldn't deal with the hatred that was heaped against them, and which taught them self-hatred. I have been told I  was sinful and unworthy just because of how I felt inside, emotionally abused to the point  where I wanted to die. I am gifted with an incredible will to live, and at times that was the only thing that saved me. I've had rocks hurled at me because I was gay, from a height that would have killed me if they had hit their mark. My mother's hairdresser had his legs broken because he is gay. And this is Ontario, Canada, probably one of the least homophobic places in the world. But it doesn't sound like a very civilized country, does it?"

Adventist, Pastor, Husband, Homosexual: "Over the next fifteen years, nearly every week I was in the office of a pastor or psychologist looking for help to change my orientation. I tried fasting and prayer. I tried behavior modification techniques in a highly touted change ministry. I even tried exorcism. But nothing worked. I often left a "help" session only to find the struggle more intense than ever. Finally, my wife, seeing nothing was going to change, filed for divorce. It was the end of the world. My marriage, my close relationship with my son, who was the joy of my life, and my ministry were all finished. I attempted suicide. Unsuccessful the first time, I made plans for a second attempt. However, when it came time to follow through, I couldn’t. Sitting there, I decided that my life would end in God’s time, not mine.

You Don't Have To Be Gay N/A: "You better not kill yourself, buddy." Jeff’s warning leapt off the opening page of his letter to me with the force of a roundhouse right, jolting me more than any physical punch could have. I assumed Jeff couldn’t comprehend the pain I was in - the confusion and agony - that he had no idea of the depth of my self-loathing and desperation. Suicide seemed the only escape from being the only me I knew - a homosexual, or, as one of my relatives had crudely put it, a "faggot."

John's Story - healed by Love: " I attempted suicide in 1992 at the age of 29. Unlike my previous attempts, this time I succeeded: I was declared dead. But one nurse refused to give up, and I was revived. A doctor at the hospital convinced me that it was better to accept the homosexuality I had been fighting against than to kill myself. For the first time, I agreed: Better gay than dead. He got me to commit to get a cat or a dog so I would have one being in my life whose unconditional love I could believe in. When I was released from the hospital, I got a cat and named her Nevada. That's the day that I accepted that I was gay. I couldn't fight it any longer... As our relationship progressed, I found myself feeling sexually attracted to a woman for the first time in my life. We married in 1998, and now have a beautiful new baby. Finally, I am at peace with myself as a man. I am at peace in the world of men, grounded and connected. I have finally experienced unconditional love -- from my wife, my mother, my therapist, my "adopted" father and brothers and family.

Healthier, happier and heterosexual: "They didn't give you specifics, all they told you was if you have enough faith, you'll be healed," Hildebaugh says. "Force yourself to date women. Nothing ever worked. I got despondent. I attempted suicide." By Chambers' estimate, only 30 percent of those who seek to switch orientations succeed. Fifty percent abandon the program. The other 20 percent, he says, go back and forth. "I would say it's like [Alcoholics Anonymous]," Chambers says. "It's in the 30-percent range [that] find a great degree of healing and move into heterosexuality, single or married."

In Memory of Dave:  "Dave was a young man in college, a track star on a scholarship. Dave was not like the other men on the team as he rarely dated much. One day Dave told the team he was gay. About a month later after he went home for thanks giving dinner something happened with his family and before Christmas he killed himself..."

The documentation of the gay/bisexual male suicide problems - and of its etiology - begins in the nineteenth century as the result of Karl Ulrichs' work. - A short History of the Suicide Problem in Gay Communities (Europe/America).. -  Teenagers Are Committing Suicide Because They Are Gay. - The numbers on gay suicides leave the human story untold. - Gay Teen Suicide: Trying to understand some of the Real Causes? "This page is written for those who seek help from (and is also dedicated to) those who work in Teen Suicide Prevention. It is also in memory of those for whom the system has failed." - Reflections on the Suicide of a Circuit Partier. - Cult Leader Tried to Repress Homosexuality Before Group Suicide N/A:  "The Washington Post reports Marshall Herff Applewhite, who led 38 members of the Heaven's Gate UFO cult to join him in mass suicide, was deeply ashamed of his homosexuality and tried repeatedly to purge himself of same-sex desires."

Gay and Bisexual Male Youth Suicide Studies. - The Homosexuality Factor in the Youth Suicide Problem. - The social