Views
The Truth About Suicide
The Truth About Suicide
Focus on the Family blames “pro-gay advocates”
for
lesbian teen suicides. Researcher says results “Hijacked”
MIAMI
BEACH, FL - Going far beyond the research results, Focus on the Family
claims a recent study presented at a Canadian public health conference
links “pro-gay advocates” to increased rates of lesbian teen
suicide attempts, a claim that has baffled the scientist who conducted
the study.
“Nothing in the brief results we presented
or in our overall study could lead to such conclusions,” said Dr.
Elizabeth Saewyc, an Associate Professor at the University of British
Columbia, and research director of the McCreary Centre Society.
“The research has been hijacked for
somebody’s political purposes or ideological purposes and that’s
worrisome,” CBC News quoted Saewyc. Gay teens in America are at
the highest risk of suicide prior to coming out, and do well after coming
out unless others harass them, Saewyc said in the June CBC story.
Reacting to survey results that showed higher
rates of suicide attempts among lesbian high school students vs. heterosexual
teens, Focus on the Family blamed the very people trying to help teens
enter a more accepting society.
“Regrettably, they think they have
to embrace homosexuality because pro-gay advocates told them that they
were born gay,” claimed Melissa Fryrear, a spokesperson for Focus
on the Family, on their website.
When contacted about Focus on the Family’s
claims, Saewyc, the study’s principal investigator, said she was
“disturbed” by what “seems to be an attempt to make
their opinions more credible by linking them to scientific research -
even though the research doesn’t support those beliefs.” She
said Focus on the Family draws conclusions well beyond the study results
by claiming that lesbians are suicidal because they are “embracing
homosexuality,” as well as other inaccuracies in their article.
“Population surveys cannot determine
cause and effect,” Saewyc explained, “they can only suggest
possible links. Even so, other researchers have not found these sorts
of links, and neither have we.”
She added, “What we have found is
that sexual, racial, or anti-gay harassment, discrimination, and violence
are strongly associated with suicidal attempts among young people - and
that includes heterosexual teens too.” She noted her previous study
of Seattle high school students, which found four out of five students
experiencing antigay harassment identified as heterosexual, and harassed
students were significantly more likely to report suicide attempts regardless
of their orientation.
“Focus on the Family has attempted
a sick spin on tragedy,” said Wayne Besen, executive director of
Truth Wins Out, an organization that challenges right wing organizations
on issues of gay identity. “Lesbian, gay and questioning teens commit
suicide because of the shame and ostracism that Focus on the Family peddles
every day.”
The research found 38 percent of lesbian
teens and 30.4 percent of bisexual teen females had attempted suicide
in the year before the survey. That compares to just 8.2 per cent of the
heterosexual
teen females surveyed.
The data came from the McCreary Centre Society’s
2003 survey of more than 30,000 Canadian students in grades seven through
twelve. Besen said Focus on the Family’s rhetoric is the first sign
of a push into North American schools.
“In Canada and the U.S., we’re
tracking efforts by Focus on the Family and others to push anti-gay pseudo-science
into schools. Wherever gay-straight alliances exist, those schools will
be their first targets,” Besen said. “They have no shame,
using the tragedy of gay teen suicide as a talking point against youth
having a safe space in which to discuss their identities.”
From Truth Wins OUT press release and CBC News. Truth Wins OUT is a nonprofit organization that counters right wing propaganda, exposes the “ex-gay” myth and educates America about gay life. For more information, visit www.TruthWinsOut.org