“It would be better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone round your neck
than to cause the downfall of one of these little ones.” – Luke 17:2
Only love can prevent LGBT teen suicide
- Because of family rejection, gay teens are 8.4 times more likely to have attempted suicide and 5.9 times more likely to report high levels of depression compared with their peers from families who reported no or low levels of family rejection. (PFLAG New York City)
- Suicide is the leading cause of death among Gay and Lesbian youth nationally.
- 30% of Gay youth attempt suicide near the age of 15.
- Gays and Lesbians are two to six times more likely to suicide than Heterosexuals.
- Almost half of the Gay and Lesbian teens state they have attempted suicide more than once.
- It has been conservatively estimated the 1,500 Gay and Lesbian youth commit suicide every year.
(SPEAK – Suicide Prevention Education and Awareness for Kids.)
[box type=”bio”]
LOUIE CLAY (born LOUIE CREW), is an Alabama native and an emeritus professor at Rutgers. He lives in East Orange, NJ, with Ernest Clay, his husband of 38 years.
Crew is the founder of Integrity, an international organization of LGBTQ Anglicans, and holds honorary doctorates from three Episcopal seminaries.
Editors have published 2,227 of Crew’s poems and essays. A detailed history of his publications can be found at http://rci.rutgers.edu/~lcrew/pubs.html. See also his bio on Wikipedia.
[/box]