Gay Youth

Your May 5 report, “Gay Teens Are More at Risk, Study Says,” points out that gay and lesbian teens are at much greater risk of engaging in a number of dangerous activities. The 1995 CDC survey on which this report is based, the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, doesn’t, unfortunately, help us understand why some teens are more likely to attempt suicide or to engage in other life-threatening behaviors. Some readers may be left with the impression that lesbian and gay young people are inherently troubled.

Survey work done in Seattle by the Safe Schools Coalition of Washington helps us understand the issue better: Suicide rates and drug abuse rates among heterosexual teens who are perceived to be gay and are targeted with anti-gay harassment are as alarmingly high as the rates for lesbian and gay adolescents. That shows us clearly what the real source of the risk-taking is: hatred and harassment.

CHRISTOPHER CALHOUN

Public Policy Advocate

L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center