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. Study director Dr. Chana Bar Yosef explains the phenomenon:

YOSEF: This is a sector that does not get enough notice, and it is a hotbed for suicides that you later hear about after the fact. The suicide rate among the religious homosexuals is the highest because they experience more distress when confronting their families.

Indeed, here in the United States, the Family Acceptance Project has thoroughly documented how family rejection of LGBT youth contributes significantly to suicide attempts, substance abuse, and homelessness:

As many as 40 percent of homeless youth identify as LGBT, and a new Williams Institute study of youth shelters confirms this estimate. Between October 2011 and March 2012, 354 agencies completed surveys about their clients and found that about 40 percent of their homeless and non-homeless clients were LGBT (9 percent of whom identified as bisexual). About 30 percent of clients using housing-related services (like emergency shelter and transitional living programs) were LGBT.

What was particularly disconcerting about this study was how evident family rejection contributed to this disproportionate number of homeless LGBT youth:

Of all the agencies’ LGBT homeless clients, 68 percent have experienced family rejection and more than half (54 percent) experienced abuse in their family. Fortunately, nearly 80 percent of the service providers who work with clients under the age of 18 are doing family acceptance-related work, though only about half of providers working with older youth offer such resources.

The largest barriers to doing more work to reduce LGBT youth homelessness were insufficient state funding, insufficient local funding, and insufficient federal funding.

This data demands that more be done to support these agencies, but important than treating the symptom is treating the problem itself. Family rejection is devastating the lives of young people across the country, and very few organizations outside the Family Acceptance Project are addressing this issue. It’s all too easy to see LGBT homeless youth as an invisible population, but there is a very visible onslaught of anti-gay and anti-trans propaganda specifically targeting parents to raise their fears of the LGBT community. Rather than protecting children, the anti-gay efforts led by conservative evangelical Christians may very well be causing the exact kinds of child abuse that they blame LGBT people for.

Phil Burress

A California bill (AB-1856) that would require LGBT training for foster parents and caregivers has conservatives up in arms. Focus on the Family said last week that it believes the policy would “drive Christian couples away” and hurt kids who are already “seriously damaged” because of sexual abuse. Today, the American Family Association ran its own story on the bill, inexplicably inviting Phil Burress of Citizens for Community Values — an Ohio-based anti-gay group — to describe his concern that the training will somehow be used to recruit people to be gay by “confusing children”:

BURRESS: It’s going to continue to confuse children. This is the way the homosexual activists continue to build their numbers — is to get people confused about their gender identity and start acting out… Obviously, people who care about children — Christian couples — they will probably go ahead and go through the training if they’re required to. When they start raising them, they’re just going to have to raise them as Christians.

Burress is yet another reminder that conservative beliefs about homosexuality have not changed over the decades. Just as hate groups like AFA are concerned about “indoctrinating students into homosexual behavior” by teaching them about same-sex families, they believe that something as simple as family acceptance is actually some kind of gay recruitment tool. Worse yet, they now seem to be encouraging conservative parents to pretend to be accepting so that they can instead force anti-gay and anti-trans self-hatred upon these young people.

Sexual orientation and gender identity are not necessarily intertwined. Both, however, present naturally and any identity along either spectrum cannot be separated from a person’s mental health. Research shows that family rejection can impact depression, substance abuse, risk of HIV and STI contraction, and suicide, while family acceptance minimizes those risks. By scaring families into ignoring the importance of supporting LGBT young people, these “family” groups are promoting their very destruction. Confusion is cured with understanding, not condemnation.

Cyndi Lauper served as Grand Marshall in this weekend's New York City Pride Parade.

Today, Cyndi Lauper launched the Forty To None Project to address the inordinately high rate of homelessness among LGBT youth. Studies estimate that there are more than 1.6 million homeless kids between the ages of 12 and 17, and as many as 40 percent of that group identify as LGBT. This is largely due to the family rejection or abuse they experience when they come out as gay, bi, or trans. Lauper hopes to educate the public to help reduce the rejection and ensure these young people’s futures:

Homelessness knows nothing of age or race or gender. It can happen to anybody. But when statistics show that as many as 40% of the nation’s homeless youth are gay or transgender, compared to 3-5% of the overall youth population, we have to acknowledge that we’re facing a crisis. The disparity suggests that gay and transgender youth stand a much higher chance of becoming homeless because of abuse, neglect and familial rejection due to sexual orientation or gender identity that drive them to the streets.The kids on the Christopher Street Pier that day, and the other gay and transgender youth living on the streets who make up the 40% have done nothing wrong, other than being born the way they were supposed to be.  And because of who they are, these kids have been forced to leave their homes, subjected to abuse or worse.[...]

In our first five years, Forty to None will work to drive down the number of gay and transgender youth on the streets through a campaign that includes: education and awareness to raise the visibility of these young people and the direct service providers who work with them; advocacy at the state and federal levels; strengthening the network of services, advocates, community leaders and others working on the issue; training service providers to be more inclusive and understanding of the issues specifically affecting these kids; and empowering homeless gay and transgender youth themselves with valuable resources and information.

Watch a PSA for the new campaign:

Last week, the Family Acceptance Project released new literature encouraging Mormons to be more accepting of LGBT youth. The 25-page booklet, part of the “Supportive Families, Healthy Children” series, blends aspects of the Mormon faith with research about how best to support the mental and physical health of young people questioning their sexuality or gender identity. Unfortunately, the LDS-run Deseret News couldn’t resist inviting ex-gay therapists Ty Mansfield and Laurie Campbell to critique the guide:

MANSFIELD: The pamphlet’s assumption of a predetermined and rubber-stamped ‘LGBT’ identity is problematic… Those who take their religion seriously also understand the sacred responsibility of nurturing values and identities that are more in harmony with the deeply held spiritual beliefs from which they arise – and they’ll continue to look for guidance primarily from church leaders as opposed to ‘LGBT’ research institutes to help them in that regard.

CAMPBELL: What about those LDS youth who are attracted to the same gender yet do not want to identify as gay and hope there might be an opposite-sex relationship for them later in life? To label them as ‘gay’ or ‘lesbian’ can be harmful… They may have a deep, spiritual sense that their attractions do not define them, but are confused by what the world has to say. If LDS parents depart from gospel truths and rush to define attractions as being a permanent ‘orientation’ when that is not necessarily the case, it can worsen the child’s distress and confusion.

These comments reflect a growing new approach to opposing LGBT identities that tries to distinguish itself from ex-gay therapy. Rather than telling young gay people to not be gay, these anti-gay therapists are simply telling them not to act on their gay identity. The distinction between self-identification and whether a person allows that identity to be an authentic part of their lives is negligible.

Campbell’s comments are the most telling — and flagrantly wrong. The obvious implication of promoting an opposite-sex relationship “later in life” is to convey that a same-sex relationship is inferior or wrong. What’s harmful to young people is discouraging them from identifying with their actual sexual orientation or communicating in any way that their family would be less accepting if they did. That’s the overarching point of the new guide.

The misguided way these therapists responded echoes the controversy over the unique case of Josh Weed, the “happily married” gay Mormon who may be advocating similar approaches in his own work as a therapist. If anti-gay activists continue to embrace this artificial distinction between orientation and identity, it must be called out as the harmful ex-gay repression that it is.

A new study from researchers at Northwestern and Brown Universities found that bullying and harassment of LGBT people can have a significant impact on suicidal thoughts and self-harm for young people, particularly for those who have attempted suicide before:

The victimization of LGBT youth is widespread and has been characterized as an important but unexamined reason for higher rates of self-harm. The current study found that victimization experienced across the assessment waves prospectively predicted self-harm and suicidal ideation. Indeed, after suicide attempt history, LGBT victimization was the strongest predictor of self-harm, being associated with a 2.5-fold increased risk. Similarly, gender nonconformity was another LGBT-specific risk factor with significant effects.

The researchers pointed out to NPR that family acceptance without judgment is key to deterring suicidal thoughts. If young people are ostracized or bullied at school, they need to be able to find social support at home. The Family Acceptance Project has similarly found that there is a high correlation between family rejection and suicide attempts, as well as illegal drug use.

It’s important to point out that bullying and victimization do not directly cause suicide, but they do contribute to an individual’s depression and hopelessness, which can lead to self-destructive behaviors. Other studies have also shown there are long-term health consequences to bullying, but social support through gay-straight alliances at school can mitigate those impacts.

A new study from the Family Acceptance Project published in the current issue of Applied Developmental Science details many important benefits for middle and high school students who have access to a gay-straight alliance (GSA) in their school. Of note are the ways LGBT students benefit from the mere presence of a GSA at their school, even if they do not actively participate. Though the study has a limited sample size, it demonstrates the significant impact GSAs can make:

• Students at a school with a GSA were less likely to experience depression and more likely to have higher self-esteem.
• Students at a school with a GSA were less likely to drop out and more likely to succeed in higher education.
• Participation in a GSA was associated with fewer problems with substance abuse, depression, and lifetime suicide attempts.
• Having a perception that a GSA effectively promoted school safety was associated with less depression, fewer problems with substance abuse, and greater college attainment.

The study also finds that GSAs have limitations. In school environments with high levels of LGBT victimization — including violence, verbal and physical harassment, and other forms of bullying — many of the GSAs’ benefits were effectively canceled out:

So, while GSAs make a very big difference for LGBT youth, they do not solve all problems. The study suggests that in addition to supporting the formation of GSAs, “school administrators and personnel should consider additional policies and programs that are associated with safer schools for LGBT students,” such as anti-harassment and anti-bullying policies.

Nevertheless, creating visibility and support for LGBT youth in schools clearly contributes to many positive outcomes. GLSEN found similar GSA benefits in its 2009 National School Climate Survey with adolescents. This new study from the Family Acceptance Project shows how the benefits of GSAs during adolescence affect LGBT young adults as well.