Gay Mormons committing suicide

[MikeWaters]

In March 2000, while leaders of the LDS Church were engaged in an costly anti-gay crusade in California, four gay Mormons killed themselves within four weeks. For members of Affirmation: Gay and Lesbian Mormons, this was a horrific wake-up call. Since 1965, more than 30 gay Mormons have committed suicide. In the last two years, we have organized memorial services and candlelight vigils to remember our dead and raise awareness about this health crisis in our midst. We do this in the hope of helping prevent more suicides.

http://www.affirmation.org/suicides/...memorial.shtml

Radiowest interviews LDS woman who writes play about Mormon young man who commits suicide on grounds of Provo Temple (takes pills and lays down in flower bed).

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net...uer-722517.mp3

This playwright is Mormon. She says she gave copies of the play to her Bishop and Stake President before it went public and intends to send her work to every single General Authority.

[MikeWaters]

Can we yet find a single public gay LDS man over 35yo who is celibate and active?

[MikeWaters]

Although many of you think Adam's assertion is hyperbole, when you realize that Utah has the highest suicide rate in the country among males 15 to 24 year old, it gives you pause.

Will the church's announcement cause more suicides? hard to say. If there were announcements spread over a number of years, the question could actually be studied.

Do the church leader's not care about the suicides of gay LDS? I have no reason to believe that they are that unfeeling.

I was sad to read that the kid who helped organized the gay club in SLC a few years ago, that led to the state/school banning all extracuricular activities committed suicide then when he was 17.

I'm sure not a few thought "well he was evil, and evil never brings happiness."

[Archaea]

It's easy for two internet posters to casually correlate a single factor to something so complex and perhaps inaccurately reported as suicide rate.

Suicide is nothing to be trifled with, but neither is it fair to use unprofessionally to gain the moral high ground. Unless you show me professionally correlated statistically establishing a reliable foundation for your assertion, then yes your arguments are mere rhetoric design to nuke the rhetorical ground in order to create artificial low ground.

[MikeWaters]

Anyone here besides me and Adam concerned that the suicide rate in Utah is related to the church?

[TripletDaddy]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

Anyone here besides me and Adam concerned that the suicide rate in Utah is related to the church?

Maybe not the Church directly, but the homogeneity and conformity that Church culture produces.

It is late and I dont have the stats, but doesnt Utah also have a very high teen pregnancy rate, as well? More possible results of repressive culture.....teens are sheltered from sex education and expression, so they get knocked up.....gays prevented from expression, so they kill themselves.

[SoonerCoug]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

Anyone here besides me and Adam concerned that the suicide rate in Utah is related to the church?

I think it's related to the Church. Guilt for masturbating. Guilt for being gay. Guilt for being straight. Confusion about why iced tea is a "hot drink".

[Jeff Lebowski]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

Anyone here besides me and Adam concerned that the suicide rate in Utah is related to the church?

Isn't the suicide rate in the Rocky Mountain area (including non-lds zones) also higher than the rest of the country? I seem to recall some recent articles on this. I will see if I can dig some up.

[Jeff Lebowski]

A few that I found:

http://www.edweek.org/login.html?sou...&baddebt=false

The Western states, especially the region that flanks the long spine of the Rocky Mountains—Montana, Nevada, Colorado, and Utah—consistently have among the highest percentages of teenage suicides in the country. The map below shows an average of state-by-state suicide rates for 1994-97, calculated per 100,000 youths ages 10 to 19. Experts at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say one reason for the high rates in the Western half of the country is that residents of prairie and mountain states are more socially isolated. Some also have speculated that the rate is higher because those with a pioneering spirit who migrate West may be disappointed when they arrive at their destinations and their high expectations aren't met. If depression strikes, mental-health care tends to be harder to access in those regions. Less populated states also tend to have fewer community institutions such as parks and recreational activities to bring far-flung people together. Higher suicide rates may also be connected to a larger number of firearms in circulation per capita in the West and the South.

http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_d...&id=13737&cn=9

• The Rocky Mountain and Western states have the highest rates of suicide in the U.S. Interestingly, this statistic isn't weather-related (it’s a myth that cold, rainy, snowy and/or cloudy weather results in a higher rate of suicide; most suicides occur in the springtime), but is related to the concentration of people in these states. Even though there are certainly large cities in these states, overall, the population is more "spread out" than in other parts of the country. See the next bullet point.
• Suicide rates are higher in rural areas. People in rural ares are more likely to attempt suicide with a firearm. Because people who use a firearm are more likely to die (than others who choose a less lethal method), more people in rural areas die from suicide.

After reading this, I am starting to worry for landpoke:

http://www.bluecorncomics.com/suicide.htm

The Rocky Mountain region had a rate of about 17 per 100,000, and Wyoming's rate is the worst in the nation at nearly 22 per 100,000.


States with dominant Republican politics, mostly in the West, have suicide rates higher than the rest of the nation, Litts said.


People living in Western states and especially Wyoming also share the desires of anonymity, privacy, keeping family problems in the family, a tripling of the divorce rate in rural areas compared to most urban areas from 1970 to 1990, the view that suicide is viewed as a failure of the individual and the family, denial that self-inflicted deaths area a problem and a conspiracy of silence that protects the family and the victim's good name, he said.


Other individual and family factors contributing to the high suicide rate include previous suicide attempts, access to firearms, exposure to suicide, the stigma associated with mental health problems and suicide, and economic instability, Litts said.


On a societal level, the agricultural sector has declined, global markets are beyond local control, failure of the family farm causes a public loss of face, loss of a lifestyle, loss of a reason for living and alcohol misuse, Litts said.


Veterans are disproportionately from rural areas and returning vets don't receive the support and care they need, he said.


However, Wyoming and Western cultures have some factors that can counteract the suicide problems caused by the "rugged independence" mentality, Litts said.

This is a good one. It has a table of suicide rates for 2005. Utah is #15, but appears to be the lowest in the region:

http://www.suicide.org/suicide-statistics.html#2005

[Archaea]

Jeff you seem to be supporting the scientific hypothesis of Adam and Mike real well. The Church created the sparse population and encourages mental health to be ignored. Yep it's all the Church's fault. We have a doctor and a lawyer who prefer live on suspicion and urban myth. Way to go guys.