Department of Health and Human Services there are approximately 1,488 suicides committed by homosexual youths, age 15-24 years-old, each year. These suicides are provoked by constant bullying and self-hatred of themselves, and are resulting from the hatred and fear of homosexuality which saturates our modern society. Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender youth are two to three times more likely to attempt suicide than anyone else. This makes suicide the number one cause of death among gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender youth.
In an issue of the Annals of Medical Sciences, in January 2001, a case report was done on the attempted suicide of a 20-year-old boy. A group of psychologists tried to determine the cause of the suicide attempt. The report discusses the patient's history, family life and background, his sexual history, and the struggles of "coming out-. The report is very informative, but it is very cold and professional, without bearing much light into the emotional trauma that someone like this would go through. The language is matter-of-fact and un-opinionated, and it is easy to understand why not many people are aware of the current situation among gay youths concerning depression and suicide.
These cold ethical statistics are all that the majority of people in today's society are used to hearing. Not many of them listen to the heartbreaking stories behind these horrible tragedies of self-destruction. Not many of them stop to hear the silent cries for help. If we dig deeper into the subject, we can understand the pain that they're going through. We can move away from the chilly, detached statistics and case reports and into something more personal and enlightening.
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In 1995, a book was published called Prayers For Bobby. Inside it was one of the most tragic instances of gay youth suicide. The book consisted of Bobby's diary entries as well as his mother, Mary Griffith's own personal writings as she tried to come to grips with her son's homosexuality and suicide.
