![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() However, this is where a real inconsistency comes in. It infantilises same-sex attracted individuals if we treat them as victims who cannot cope. It has always been due to something private and personal… There are as many causes of inner distress as there are individuals. There is a real risk in continually telling young LGBTQ people they are victims of society’s homophobia and expecting them to be depressed and suicidal… Nobody denies that same-sex attracted people suffer disproportionately from depression and emotional distress, but never once, in my experience as a GP, has a patient’s depression or distress been due to the “bigoted opinions” of straight society. Because as van Gend-who is a medical practitioner-explains: Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD 2011) warned staff against perpetuating ‘suicide contagion’ among GLBTIQ youth… Harwood and Rasmussen (2004) argued that the focus on GLBTIQ youth discrimination and suicide encouraged students to express GLBTIQ identity using a conflated woundedness through risky behaviours, neediness or creating appropriate ‘adolescence horror stories…” Dr David van Gend, in his best-selling book, Stealing from a Child (Connor Court, 2016) quotes Jones as saying: Tiffany Jones, who is one of the authors of Writing Themselves In 3 -a resource of The Safe Schools Coalition-has warned that the line of reasoning used by Roberts might be contributing to youth suicide rather than actually preventing it. To be able to say, ‘It’s not my fault, I had no choice, too much was expected of me, society made me do it’ has only ever helped make it easier to entertain thoughts of self-annihilation. On the contrary, the only thing that kept me from taking my own life was a feeling that I was profoundly culpable, that I was responsible to people who would suffer for my decisions. I have struggled with depression and suicidal temptations since youth the removal of moral culpability has never been a help and a comfort when I am working through feelings of inadequacy and self-hatred. It is not in the interest of any teenager – gay, straight, transsexual, or non-sexually identifying – to be told that suicide is a natural reaction to their reality. I am exceedingly wary of attempts to put the onus for gay suicide on “heterosexist” culture. Melinda Selmys - who describes herself as a “former lesbian” - warns in her book, Sexual Authenticity: However, we should consider whether Roberts’ inflammatory words might cause more unintended harm than Folau’s. ![]() There is no excuse for violence or inciting hatred, no matter their sexuality, race or religion. I say that with the greatest sense of respect and I’m not implying that Israel is responsible solely for that – please don’t take it that way – but it’s these types of comments and these types of off-the-cuff remarks when you have young people and vulnerable people … who are dealing with their sexuality, confused, not knowing how to deal with it.īefore offering a response, let me be clear: one youth suicide is too many. There are literally kids in the suburbs killing themselves. I don’t say this lightly and what I’m about to say, the language I use is hard and it’s for a point, it’s to get that message across. For instance, former NRL star and the first openly gay footballer, Ian Roberts, was quoted in The Sydney Morning Herald as saying: Some voices in the leftist media - The Guardian, for instance - are claiming the primary reason Israel Folau needs to silenced and sacked by Rugby Australia is that his words are causing LGBTIQ kids to commit suicide. ![]()
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