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Spokesperson Michael Kelly said the church's negative attitude to homosexuality is a shocking burden for young people to bear, contributing to many gay related suicides.
"The Catholic Church is responsible for the education of 25 percent of all Australian youth. It is unacceptable that a quarter of all school age youth are being placed at risk because they are denied safe sex education and information that may prevent them from suicide", Mr Kelly said.
The Cathedral celebrant Archbishop Pell, ignored the comments, quoting only that "homosexuality was more of a health hazard than smoking".
Research in Australia and overseas has revealed that a third of all youth suicides are gay related, with gay and lesbian youths attempting suicide three to five times more often than other youths. A survey of identified young gay people, also found that 62 percent had experienced some form of physical abuse, while 90 percent reported having been verbally abused ( Nicholas and Howard 1998). .
These figures substantiate a need to target the prevention of homosexual discrimination in society, as a way of significantly reducing the youth suicide rate in Australia.
Then, there is the question of how suicide comes to be constructed as a meaningful option for some young people. We can not assume to know the truth or reality of a young persons life, but can only explore the way in which individual actions are always constituted through social processes (Hallam, Howarth and Hockey 1999).
Advertising and the media portrayal of "ideals" in Australian society, could well be a direct contributor to our high rate of youth suicide. Young people in searching for an identity, are particularly susceptible, in that they often set unrealistic goals for themselves in imitation of the ideal "norm" portrayed by the media. For example, the instance of anorexia among teenage girls rose significantly when "waif" look models began to dominate the fashion scene (Cleo No.
