Report: Gay teen suicide not as high as believed
USA Today reported on a recent survey that shows gay and lesbian teens are only slightly more likely than heterosexual kids to attempt suicide, contrary to past studies which say gay teens have triple the rate of trying suicide, said Cornell University psychologist Ritch Savin-Williams. Most surveys had been done among teens who were distressed and seeking services, he said.
USA Today said: "Savin-Williams' own two studies, to appear in The Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, focus on 349 students ages 17 to 25. When they said they had tried to kill themselves, he asked what method they used. He also separated out the small minority that attended support groups. ... Over half of reported suicide attempts turned out to be 'thinking about it' rather than trying anything. One study of 83 women showed a true suicide attempt rate of 13% for those who hadn't attended a support group. ( Between 7% and 13% of all teens have tried to kill themselves. ) For the small minority from support groups, 45% had tried suicide. The other study of 266 college men and women found that gay youths were not significantly more likely than straight classmates to have tried to take their own lives. Again, the homosexual students were more likely to report 'attempts' that further questioning revealed as thoughts."
USA Today said another survey of 12,000 teens found about 15% of gay and lesbian youngsters had tried suicide, compared with 7% of straight teens.
LAMBDA AIDS DAY REPORT
In its sixth annual World AIDS Day report card, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund highlights HIV prevention efforts, and flunks the Bush Administration for its just-say-no approach to sex education for young people at risk of infection.
Surgeon General David Satcher earned an "A" for calling for thorough and medically accurate sexual health education with his "Call to Action to Promote Sexual Health and Responsible Sexual Behavior" issued earlier this year.
"This year marked 20 years of living with HIV and AIDS, and we still do not have sufficient, sound, large-scale prevention efforts that are essential to controlling this epidemic," said Lambda AIDS Project Director Catherine A. Hanssens. "As this year's report card shows, the federal government could learn a lot from community organizations," she said.
4 OUT OF 5 PARENTS SAY 'YES' TO PROTECTING STUDENTS
The majority of U.S. parents support inclusive remedies to the harassment and discrimination faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth in schools, according to a poll by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network. The survey found that 80% of parents favor "expanding existing anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policies to include lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students."
The poll also showed that 80% of parents support "teacher sensitivity trainings on tolerance that include instructions on dealing with gay and lesbian harassment in schools"; 63% favor "including positive information about gay and lesbian people in middle and high school health and sex education classes"; 60% favor "information about transgender people" in those forums.
Visit www.glsen.org .
LESBIAN WINS IN ATLANTA
Cathy Woolard has won her race for Atlanta City Council President. Woolard, who secured her position as President with 55% of the vote in the Nov. 27 run-off, is the first woman and first open lesbian to hold this position in the history of Atlanta. "This is a significant victory in the capital of the New South because qualified and capable gay candidates are building coalitions and winning based on the issues affecting all voters," said Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund Executive Director Brian Bond.
Woolard received 28% of the vote in the general election, placing second to Michael Julian Bond. She defeated Bond in the run-off election. Cathy Woolard's bid for City Council President left the Ward 6 position open for Victory Fund-endorsed candidate Anne Fauver to emerge victorious and replace her, defeating her opponent with 55% of the vote in the run-off election.
Rights Groups Urge Fair Treatment for Surviving Partners of Sept. 11
In a joint letter to the United States Department of Justice, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Empire State Pride Agenda, the Human Rights Campaign, Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, the National Center for Lesbian Rights and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force urged Attorney General John Ashcroft to act fairly in compensating all surviving family members of Sept. 11 victims, including lesbian and gay survivors and their children.
The federal government set up the Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund to provide financial support for survivors whose relatives were killed or injured in the attacks. Because same-sex relationships are widely denied legal recognition, surviving lesbian and gay partners are grappling with additional trauma: "proving" they are a family member of a victim, and not knowing if they will find support from government funds.
'BIBLICAL LAW' ACTIVIST MIGHT GET BUSH APPT.
President George W. Bush appears ready to nominate J. Robert Brame III to serve as a member of the National Labor Relations Board, despite Brame's leadership of religious-political extremist groups.
Brame has served as a top official of American Vision, an Atlanta-based group that seeks to replace America's secular democracy with a "Christian" regime based on "biblical law," including enforcement of the harsh legal code of the Old Testament. Brame recently resigned from the American Vision board after the group's agenda became public.
American Vision has described democracy as "the first step toward fascism," argues that women must be subordinate to men and insists that the Bible requires the death penalty for gays.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State said Brame's service with these groups should disqualify him from a post in government.
BRIEFS
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that two AIDS activists were arrested in a San Francisco courthouse and charged with stalking and making terrorist threats against city health officials and staff members of The Chronicle. David Pasquarelli and Michael Petrelis were held on $500,000 bail each, the paper said. "Both had come to Superior Court for a hearing on civil harassment suits by two public health officials and five Chronicle reporters and editors, all allegedly the targets of threatening telephone calls. They were arrested in a hallway after the hearing. 'No quarantine of gay men in San Francisco!' Pasquarelli shouted as he was taken away in handcuffs," according to the Chronicle.
Reuters reports that a publisher who claimed he had a video of Tom Cruise engaged in same-sex acts now says no such tape existed, and as a result, the actor has dropped his $100 million lawsuit against the man, Cruise's attorney said. "Tom is a great believer in everybody's freedom to choose his own sexual preference," his attorney said. But he said not all audiences feel the same way, "especially when ( Cruise ) has to play a heterosexual male lead."
