It is quite common for homosexual activists to blame suicide in their ranks on ‘homophobia’. ‘If we would just be more tolerant and accepting of homosexuals, these rates would drop’ they claim. But are these claims in fact true? The evidence seems to suggest that they are not.
A simple way to test this is to look at places where homosexuality is very much accepted, such as in nations like Holland, or cities like San Francisco. One would expect less suicide and other mental health problems amongst homosexuals in these places. But that is not the case. There is as much if not more suicide and related problems in these localities. So homophobia cannot be to blame.
As one commentator puts it, “Studies done in the Netherlands and New Zealand, for example, where there is generally high tolerance of sexual ‘diversity,’ found the same high rates of psychological difficulties as those done elsewhere.” A number of international studies have borne this out.
A panel convened by such groups as the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American Psychological Association, and the American Association of Suicidology made this finding: “There is no population-based evidence that sexual orientation and suicidality are linked in some direct or indirect manner”.
A study published in Pediatrics entitled “Risk factors for attempted suicide in gay and bisexual youth,” examined 137 youths who deemed themselves ‘gay’. Says the study, “In this sample, bisexuality or homosexuality per se was not associated with self-destructive acts”. This study found that less than one in ten homosexual youths attempted suicide because of their homosexuality. Bear in mind again that attempts are always much more common than completed suicides.
But the myth that ‘homophobia’ causes high suicide rates keeps being repeated because it nicely serves in the overall cause of the militant homosexual lobby: to get mainstream acceptance of homosexuality. Indeed, by using skewed statistics, homosexual activists are seeking to win over societal acceptance.
This strategy is outlined in the influential homosexual publication, After the Ball by Marshall Kirk and Hunter Madsen. In this book the authors urge homosexuals to cast themselves as victims and “invite straights to be their protectors”. Such a strategy is obviously working.
Indeed, it has resulted in many schools inviting homosexuals into the classroom to tell students that homosexuality is normal, and that students need to overcome their ‘homophobia’. Polished videos have been produced by the homosexual lobby to convince teachers to invite in homosexuals to help change children’s perceptions of homosexuality. A number of elementary schools in America have done just that, and there is pressure on for Australian schools to do the same.
But these programs are just further attempts at normalising homosexuality among our school children. It is important therefore that the myths of homosexual teen suicide be exposed. As one pro-family leader has commented: “Teen suicide is always a tragedy. But tragedies should never be manipulated in order to advance an agenda – especially one that lures youth into an immoral, disease-ridden lifestyle”.
Pro-family activist Maggie Gallagher has recently written on this very subject, and her remarks are worth repeating here: “Gay students are also more than twice as likely to report having had sexual intercourse before age 13 – that is, to be sexually abused as children. They are three times as likely to report being the victims of dating violence, and nearly four times as likely to report forced sexual contact.
“A majority of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual (LGBT) teens in Massachusetts reported using illegal drugs in the past month. (Perhaps most oddly, gay teens are also three times as likely as nongay teens to report either becoming pregnant or getting someone else pregnant.)
“Forced sex, childhood sexual abuse, dating violence, early unwed pregnancy, substance abuse – could these be a more important factor in the increased suicide risk of LGBT teens than anything people like me ever said? The deeper you look, the more you see kids who are generally unprotected in deeply tragic ways that make it hard to believe – if you are really focusing on these kids’ well-being – that gay marriage is the answer.
“And that’s exactly what the Youth Risk Behavior data also show. Massachusetts has been tracking gay high school students for a decade using the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey. In 2001, gay teens in Massachussetts were almost four times more likely to have attempted suicide (31 percent vs. 8 percent). In 2007 – after four years of legalized gay marriage in that state – gay teens were still about four times more likely to attempt suicide than nongay teens (29 percent vs. 6 percent).
“Whether you are looking at their faces or looking at the statistics, one thing is clear: These kids need help, real help. They should not become a mere rhetorical strategy, a plaything in our adult battles. Each of these teens is a child of God. And each one deserves better from all of us than becoming a ‘teachable moment’ in someone else’s culture war.”
Quite so. Homosexuality is a very risky and unhealthy lifestyle. Instead of using our schools to force-feed kids pro-homosexual propaganda, we should use them to tell young people the truth about this harmful lifestyle. Such people need help and they need truth. They do not need more encouragement to further move into this dangerous lifestyle.
http://townhall.com/columnists/MaggieGallagher/2010/10/20/does_gay_marriage_prevent_gay_teen_suicide/page/1
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