Heya –

I’ve heard a few mentions recently about GBTL Youth from a faith background being over-represented in suicide stats here in Australia. I’ve done a quick search (very quick I’ll admit…) but haven’t turned up anything in support. Has anybody seen anything or know where there may be something more?

Best,

JR

Thanks AVB. I’ve been trying to take the “demonstrating supportive behaviours” tack with my church and it would have been great to be able to show just how serious the outcomes are from the current approach.

It’d be a different story if there was no data because there wasn’t an issue! Sadly I think we all know that’s not the case…

While this does paper not specifically address suicide of gay christians, it does address the issue of gays generally in Australia and Doctors Flood and Hamilton claim it is 6-8 times the national average on page 4. I found it was well written and researched. In 2008, I have read that Australias overall are now 29% homophobic (by their definition), down from 34% when this paper was written in 2005. The page showing a graph of homophobia by denomination was interesting.

This is the link. http://www.google.com.au/#hl=en&source=hp&biw=1276&bih=816&q=mapping+homophobia+in+australia&rlz=1R2ADFA_enAU388&aq=f&aqi=g1&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=75011fdd1eb4d02

Or you can just Google “Mapping Homophobia in Australia”.