Think Before You Speak (campaign) - Background

Background

A U.S. government study, titled Report of the Secretary's Task Force on Youth Suicide, published in 1989, found that LGBT youth are four times more likely to attempt suicide than other young people. This higher prevalence of suicidal ideation and overall mental health problems among gay teenagers compared to their heterosexual peers has been attributed to Minority Stress. Depression and drug use among LGBT people have both been shown to increase significantly after new laws that discriminate against gay people are passed. Institutionalized and internalized homophobia may also lead LGBTQ youth to not accept themselves and have deep internal conflicts about their sexual orientation.

"Approximately 25 percent of lesbian, gay and bisexual students and university employees have been harassed due to their sexual orientation, as well as a third of those who identify as transgender, according to the study and reported by the Chronicle of Higher Education." "LGBT students are three times as likely as non-LGBT students to say that they do not feel safe at school (22% vs. 7%) and 90% of LGBT students (vs. 62% of non-LGBT teens) have been harassed or assaulted during the past year." In addition, "LGBQ students were more likely than heterosexual students to have seriously considered leaving their institution as a result of harassment and discrimination." Susan Rankin, a contributing author to the report in Miami, found that “Unequivocally, The 2010 State of Higher Education for LGBT People demonstrates that LGBTQ students, faculty and staff experience a ‘chilly’ campus climate of harassment and far less than welcoming campus communities."

Homophobia arrived at by any means can be a gateway to bullying. As seen in the nine LGBTQ youth suicides in September 2010, severe bullying can lead to extremities such as suicide. It does not always have to be physical, but it can be emotional, viral, sexual, and racial, too. Physical bullying is kicking, punching, while emotional bullying is name calling, spreading rumors and other verbal abuse. Viral, or cyber bullying, involves abusive text messages or messages of the same nature on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media networks. Sexual bullying is unwanted touching, lewd gestures or jokes, and racial bullying has to do with stereotypes and discrimination.

Bullying is often dismissed as a "rite of passage", but studies have shown it has negative physical and psychological effects. "Sexual minority youth, or teens that identify themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual, are bullied two to three times more than heterosexuals", and "almost all transgender students have been verbally harassed (e.g., called names or threatened in the past year at school because of their sexual orientation (89%) and gender expression (89%)", according to GLSEN's Harsh Realities, The Experiences of Transgender Youth In Our Nation’s Schools. These issues have become more mainstream in the 2000s (decade), and even more so in the months of September and October 2010 when a series of suicides got national attention. In August 2010 the US Department of Education (DOE) hosted the first-ever National Bullying Summit. President Barack Obama has posted an "It Gets Better" video on The White House website as part of the It Gets Better Project, it became the second most-viewed video on the White House YouTube channel.

"More than 34,000 people die by suicide each year," making it "the third leading cause of death among 15 to 24 year olds with lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth attempting suicide up to four times more than their heterosexual peers." In 2004, 1,985 American adolescents under the age of twenty committed suicide, an increase of 18% from the previous year. Though it is impossible to know the exact suicide rate of LGBT youth because sexuality and gender minorities are often hidden and even unknown, particularly in this age group. Further research is currently being done to explain the prevalence of suicide among LGBT youths.