Louisville campaign works to decrease high suicide rate among LGBTQ+ youth; focuses on importance of parental support

A new campaign in Louisville is working to decrease the high suicide rate among high school students who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning by emphasizing the importance of parental support.

In the United States, high school students who identify as LGBTQ are almost five times more likely to attempt suicide than their cisgender, heterosexual peers, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. (Cisgender is the term for a person whose sense of personal identity and gender corresponds with their birth sex.)

“Though educating their parents can’t solve everything LGBTQ+ youth face, it’s a great place to start especially when the statistics speak so loudly for themselves,” Ryan Combs said in the news release. “When parents support their kids, youth have better mental health outcomes.”

The project, called "Embrace the Journey," is led by Combs, an assistant professor in the School of Public Health and Information Sciences at the University of Louisville, and Maurice Gattis, associate professor in the university's Kent School of Social Work. It was developed through the guidance of local health providers, public health professionals, LGBTQ+ youth and community members, says the release. (The + at the end of LGBTQ stands for "and others" and ensures an inclusiveness of all identities.)

Combs told Kentucky Health News that the campaign will start in Louisville and includes a 40-mile radius, with hopes of expanding it if successful.

The project stems from the findings of the U of L 2017 LGBTQ+ Adolescent Health Study, which found that 100 percent of the participants had heard homophobic or transphobic language, 61 percent felt unsafe and 27 percent had experienced physical violence at school, according to the release.

“We wanted to understand the health needs of LGBTQ adolescents in Louisville. We learned that the largest concern locally is mental health, especially depression, anxiety and suicidality,” said Combs. “We designed a campaign to target parents because they play such a key role in the mental health of LGBTQ youth."

The reason LGBTQ+ adolescents report higher levels of poor mental health than heterosexual and cisgender youth isn't because of their identity, "but rather that LGBTQ+ youth are often bullied and mistreated for their sexual orientation and / or gender identity / expression, feel misunderstood by other peers and adults in their lives, lack access to affirming health and social services, and are made to feel that who they are is wrong, shameful or politicized," according to the campaign's website.

It continues, "Studies show that when LGBTQ+ adolescents have support from even one adult – especially support from a parent or guardian – they are much more likely to maintain mental healthiness."

The campaign launched at a recent Louisville Pride Foundation event, where organizers spoke to participants and handed out posters that read: “LGBTQ+ youth are more likely to experience depression, anxiety, and suicide – supportive parents greatly reduce this risk.”

Parents of LGBTQ youth can find more information about this campaign and additional resources at
embracethejourneylou.org, including advice from other parents, personal narratives from youth and a glossary of LGBTQ vocabulary.

The campaign was developed with grants from the Cooperative Consortium for Transdisciplinary Social Justice Research at U of L and JustFundKY, an anti-discrimination foundation, and works closely with Louisville Youth Group.

Domestic abuse is about as common in male couples as in heterosexual couples, study in three major cities finds

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Around half of American men in a three-city survey said they experienced abuse in their same-sex relationships -- about the same percentage reported by women, a new study shows.

The study at the University of Michigan surveyed 160 male couples in Atlanta, Boston and Chicago. It found that 46 percent said they experienced physical, emotional, sexual, or control abuse from a partner. Research on domestic violence usually only surveys the assumed victims (usually women in opposite-sex couples), this researched surveyed both perpetrators and victims.

"We're stuck in this mental representation of domestic violence as a female victim and a male perpetrator, and while that is very important, there are other forms of domestic violence in all types of relationships," said Rob Stephenson, a UM professor. He said about 25 to 30 percent of male-only relationships include violence, around the same as female victims in heterosexual relationships.

The study found that male couples, while facing many of the same challenges that heterosexual couples face such as financial problems or drug abuse, also face homophobia, a challenge unique to same-sex couples. Sometimes, the homophobia comes from within, when one member of the couple is struggling with his identity, Stephenson said. Such a man "might lash out at his partner with physical or emotional abuse as a stress response behavior—similar to heterosexual couples, where an unemployed man lashes out at his female partner because he feels inadequate," a UM press release said.

The research also shows a correlation between HIV prevention and abuse, said Stephenson, because men who are in abusive relationships may not be able to negotiate for condom use, when or how they have sex, or communicate their HIV status.