Death in Michigan
Hey guys got this e-mal in my inbox today from the Michigan Triangle Foundation
It is with a heavy heart that I share the tragic loss of one of our community's beautiful children. Ian Guarr, a 16-year old transgender young man from West Michigan, took his own life on Monday. The Guarr family have been staunch allies and good friends of Triangle Foundation from the beginning of their journey. Ian's mother Amy is a founder of TransYouth Family Advocates (http://imatyfa.org), a national organization addressing the issues facing transgender youth and a national partner of Triangle Foundation's Camping.OUT program.
Ian was one of my daughter Chloe's dearest friends. Ian was sensitive, thoughtful, brilliant, hilarious, and painfully shy. Our world is less bright without Ian's presence. Even with an amazingly supportive and loving family such as Ian had, the youth of our community face an incredibly difficult path. In the United States, every hour an LGBT youth commits suicide. The statistics for transgender youth are even more harrowing -- the attempted suicide rate is higher than 50%!
Ian's family did everything right. They loved, cared, and advocated for who Ian knew he really was –not just for who society wanted him to be. This community owes the Guarr family a debt of gratitude for all that they have done for Ian as well as for all transgender youth.
Triangle Foundation joins our friends at TransYouth Family Advocates and TransActive Education & Advocacy in once again renewing our commitment to working with and on behalf of transgender, gay, lesbian, bisexual and questioning youth who, like Ian, are struggling with a society that is often unwilling to accept them for the unique and beautiful people they are. Our work will continue until no young person feels that suicide is their only option.
If you are not getting confirmation e-mails from Oasis to complete your membership, don't hesitate to e-mail jeff at oasismag dot com. Be sure to include your username.
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Hmm...
I'm not familiar with that stat, but it seems high, no? An LGBT youth COMMITS suicide every hour? I can see "attempts," but commits seems a bit much.
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"Be like a postage stamp. Stick to one thing until you get there." -- Josh Billings.
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It does seem a bit high.
It does seem a bit high. Other then this email i've never seen/heard of it before but i don't know.
~~~Fear is only a verb if you let it be.. don't you dare let go of my hand~~~
Suicide statistics
One LGBT youth per hour is too high.
On average, a teenager in America kills herself or himself just over every two hours -- 11 successful suicides a day.
Estimates for attempts versus successes are hard to make, but the range for teenagers is thought to be between 100 and 200 attempts per death.
So that's 1100 to 2200 suicide attempts per day, or about one every two to four minutes.
I am not sure how many of those are LGBT teenagers or not, but LGBT teens have about 4 times as likely a chance of suicide as non-LGBT.
Here are the suicide statistics I quoted.
Hmm...
I've just always found these to be questionable numbers. Of course, I don't like most stats used by advocacy groups. As a vegan, when I hear the stats behind how much it costs to actually make a pound of beef, they also sound absurdly high/inflated. And, in both instances, the people on the opposite side tend to dismiss them as such.
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"Be like a postage stamp. Stick to one thing until you get there." -- Josh Billings.
Add me on MySpace!