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 conclu-

sions,” said Dr. Elizabeth Saewyc, an Associate v

Professor at the University of British Columbia,
and research director of the McCreary Centre
Society.

“The research has been hijacked for some-
body’s political purposes or ideological purposes
and that’s worrisome,” CBC News quoted Saew-
ye. 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.

What we have

found is that
sexual, racial,

or a nti-gay

ha rassment,  
discrimination,
and violence are
strongly associated
with suicidal
attempts‘ among‘
young people-
and that includes
heterosexual
teens too.

Reacting to survey results that showed high-
er rates of suicide attempts among lesbian high
school students vs. heterosexual teens, Focus on
the  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 Fo-
' cus 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 research-
ers have not found these sorts of links, and nei-
ther have we." . .

She added, “What we have found is that sexu-
al, 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 previ-
ous study of Seattle high school students, which
found four out of five students experiencing anti-
gay harassment identified as heterosexual, and
harassed students were significantly more likely
to report suicide attempts regardless of their ori-
entation.

“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 os-
tracism that Focus on the Family peddles every
day.”

Wayne Besen,
founder of Truth

Wins OUT

The research found 38 percent of lesbian
teens and 30.4 percent of bisexual teen females
had attempted suicide in the year before the sur-
vey. That compares to just 8.2 per cent of the het-
erosexual teen females surveyed.

The data came from the McCreary Centre So-
ciety’s 2003 survey of more than 30,000 Canadiarr
students in grades seven through twelve.

Besen said Focus on the Farnily’s rhetoric
is the first sign of a push into North American
schools. ‘

“In Canada and the U.S., We’re tracking ef-
forts 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.” V . '

a 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.

 

JULYCZOO6 l out In the innuntulns 9

    

»  comer nifiiw ooiliiiinrn nnvoem .
VT cople with AIDS Coalition,  Box 1 l, Montpelier, VT 0. -‘

 Aug. 12, »15, 18, 23, 26

a romance

Britten

lllhert Herring

a riot

Matinee Aug. 24

Aug. 17, 19, 22, 25

Evenings $17 — 5575
Matinee $5. $25

For Tickets: (603) 448-()4()()
www.Ope1'aNor1l1.org