Group Seeks to Combat Gay Suicide

Blaming ultraconservatives for fostering an anti-gay climate that can contribute to suicide, Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays recently started a national education program to combat a newly acknowledged crisis of gay and lesbian youth suicide.

Some studies estimate that gay youngsters are three times as likely as non-gays to attempt suicide and that they account for about 30% of the 5,000 youth suicides each year, according to Paulette Goodman, president of the Washington-based group, which held its annual convention last week at the Hyatt Regency Alicante in Garden Grove.

“People who express themselves like (anti-gay minister) Lou Sheldon don’t appreciate that children are killing themselves day after day,” she said.

Both Sheldon, president of the Anaheim-based Traditional Values Coalition, and Rep. William E. Dannemeyer (R-Fullerton) prevailed upon Louis W. Sullivan, secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to repudiate a January, 1990, government report that contained the gay suicide statistics.

Goodman estimated that one family in four is touched by homosexuality. But often, she said, parents learn of their child’s homosexual orientation only after a suicide attempt. Others may never reveal their sexual preferences out of shame and fear.

The three-phase national project “Respect All Youth” will develop informational materials designed to:

* Increase awareness of issues that may lead young people to suicide.

* Provide a systematic outreach to leaders of national youth organizations, including Boy and Girl Scouts and the 4-H, as well as religious groups and other professionals.

* Provide training for the 200 chapters of PFLAG to help them reach youth and teachers in the local community.

“Silence is argument carried on by other means.” --Ernesto (Che) Guevara (1928-67)