A rally and candlelight march in San Francisco was held on Friday, October 8 to bring awareness to what some have called an epidemic.
The event was organized by Affirmation: Gay and Lesbian Mormons, and featured speakers from The Trevor Project, Soulforce, Equality California, Family Acceptance Project, Gay-Straight Alliance Network, and Affirmation.
California State Senator Mark Leno, Michael Crane of the Trevor Project, and Bonnie Graves, Board member of the Trevor Project, speak in this segment.
While acceptance of LGBT people continues to grow in the larger population, suicide amongst LGBT youth continues to be high and is even rising in some areas. "Lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth are up to four times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers" (Massachusetts 2007 Youth Risk Survey.) Even more frightening is when you look at youth from rejecting families, religions or communities. A 2009 study found that "Lesbian, Gay & Bisexual youth who come from highly rejecting families are more than 8 times as likely to have attempted suicide than LGB peers who reported no or low levels of family rejection" (Ryan C, Huebner D, et al - Peds 2009;123(1):346-352).
