Religion
Related: About this forumThe Forsaken: A Rising Number of Homeless Gay Teens Are Being Cast Out by Religious Families
While life gets better for millions of gays, the number of homeless LGBT teens - many cast out by their religious families - quietly keeps growing
By Alex Morris | September 3, 2014
One late night at the end of her sophomore year of college, Jackie sat in her parked car and made a phone call that would forever change the course of her life. An attractive sorority girl with almond eyes and delicate dimples, she was the product of a charmed Boise, Idaho, upbringing: a father who worked in finance, a private school education, a pool in the backyard, all the advantages that an upper-middle-class suburban childhood can provide along with all the expectations attendant to that privilege.
"There was a standard to meet," Jackie says. "And I had met that standard my whole life. I was a straight-A student, the president of every club, I was in every sport. I remember my first day of college, my parents came with me to register for classes, and they sat down with my adviser and said, 'So, what's the best way to get her into law school?'"
Jackie just followed her parents' lead understanding implicitly that discipline and structure went hand in hand with her family's devout Catholic beliefs. She attended Mass three times a week, volunteered as an altar server and was the fourth generation of her family to attend her Catholic school; her grandfather had helped tile the cathedral. "My junior year of high school, my parents thought it was weird that I'd never had a boyfriend," she says, "so I knew I was supposed to get one. And I did. It was all just a rational thought process. None of it was emotionally involved."
After graduating, Jackie attended nearby University of Idaho, where she rushed a sorority at her parents' prompting. She chose a triple major of which they approved. "I remember walking out of the sorority house to go to Walmart or something, and I stopped at the door and thought to myself, 'Should I tell someone I'm leaving?'" she says. "It was the first time in my life where I could just go somewhere and be my own person."
http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/the-forsaken-a-rising-number-of-homeless-gay-teens-are-being-cast-out-by-religious-families-20140903
libodem
(19,288 posts)Seems to attract the vulnerable. Those parents are creating the worst case scenario. It makes me furious. Even Dr Laura isn't that cold. And she advocates cutting ties with noncompliance on rules.
cbayer
(146,218 posts)I just can't get my head around parents like this. So very, very sad.
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)cbayer
(146,218 posts)rate is not particularly high when compared to other countries.
I doubt there is any significant correlation with national rates, but any suicide that is due to parental rejection based on sexual orientation is wrong.
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)I suppose not shockingly so. (The means of accomplishing it in the US is much, much different.)
cbayer
(146,218 posts)The data is interesting. It is most likely a highly complex correlation. Suicide rates peak during adolescence and again during old age. The reasons for suicides in those two groups are, clearly, very different. Economics plays big role, as does health status.
Overall, too complicated to draw general conclusions.
And, as I think you are noting, access to lethal weapons, particularly firearms, is a clear factor.
That is one of the greatest preventable risk factors, imo. Suicide attempts using guns are much more successful than any other type of attempt.
WovenGems
(776 posts)The teen gets old and puts his now very elderly parents in the worst home he can. Family is not something to play with.
okasha
(11,573 posts)A.couple years ago, there was a young heterosexual couple (plus baby-on-the-way) in one of my drawing classes who had been kicked out by both sets of parents because they were of different faiths. The girl's mother even destroyed some of her artwork.
Like cbayer, I have a hard time getting my head around doing this to any kid. Doing it to someone with an added degree of vulnerability because s/he's LGBT is incredibly cruel.