Education

What Do Gay Youth Ask Themselves?

The “horror” of being gay is the horror of having a secret you don’t understand.
Here are some of the questions Gay kids wonder:

What does this mean?
Did God make a mistake?
Did I do something wrong?
Will it pass?
Can I cure myself?
Will Mom and Dad hate me?
If I marry the right person, will I be okay?
Will I ever be happy?
Can I have children?
Where will I work?

Just the Facts

Of all the teenage suicides, 30 percent are gay related. It has been estimated that over 1,500 gay teenagers kill themselves every year in the United States.
-- Department of Health and Human Services
In a study of students in public high schools, 97% report regularly hearing homophobic remarks from their peers. Report of the Massachusetts Governors Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth.
The typical high school student hears anti-gay slurs 25.5 times a day, and teachers who hear the slurs fail to respond 97% of the time. Carter, Kelley, “Gay Slurs Abound,” in the Des Moines Register.
41 % of GLBT youth do not feel safe in their schools because they are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. National School Climate Survey, a study conducted among 496 youth across 32 states in 1999.
In a 14-city study of GLBT youth, 80% reported verbal abuse, 44% reported threats of attack, 33% reported having objects thrown at them and 30% reported being chased or followed. A.R. D’Augelli and S.L. Hershberger, American Journal of Community Psychology.
In a study of 4,159 Massachusetts high school students, 31.2% identifying as GLBT were threatened/injured with a weapon at school in the past year compared to 6.9% of their peers. Massachusetts Department of Education.
Students who said they had experienced anti-gay harassment were seven times as likely to report having missed at least one day of school in the past month out of fear for their safety. Eighty-Three Thousand Youth, The Safe Schools Coalition of Washington, 1999.
In Seattle, 34% of students identifying as GLBT reported being the target of anti-gay harassment of violence at school or on the way to or from school, compared to heterosexual students. Seattle Teen Health Risk Survey. Over 8,400 Seattle high school students completed the survey.
In Michigan, 28% of school personnel surveyed determined their school environment emotionally unsafe for sexual minority youth. A survey of 300 superintendents, school counselors and psychologists in public and private schools in five Michigan counties.
In a national survey, youth described being called lesbian or gay as the most deeply unsettling form of sexual harassment they experienced. American Association of University Women. 1,632 field surveys across the U.S.
Studies on youth suicide consistently find that lesbian and gay youth are 2-6 times more likely to attempt suicide than other youth and may account for 30% of all completed suicides among teens. Report of the Secretary’s Task Force on Youth Suicide, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.