Priest warns of gay teenagers driven to suicide

LESBIAN and gay teenagers are being driven to suicide because they ‘come out’, a Limerick priest has warned.

Fr Joe Young said depression, brought on by the feeling of being persecuted due to sexual orientation, was leading young people to take their own lives.

He said: “Some adolescents, who are identified as gay or lesbian, may indeed attempt suicide within a year of ‘coming out’ of their sexuality.”

Fr Young said gays and lesbians felt extreme isolation and a stigma attached to their sexual identity.

“Despite society’s perception of itself as enlightened and modern, people still acknowledge this group as different,” he said.

Fr Young said he had encountered suicide where a person was thrust into a situation perceived to be chaotic and intolerable.

He said: “What I have come to believe is distorted thinking often leads to suicide. Some people perceive their lives, their community or their families’ future as fruitless and undesirable.”

He said because society was so quick to label people, gays and lesbians feared discrimination and loss of friendship and family support, which was a major source of depression.

He said: “We, as a society, need to stop texting and start listening. He said people were treating suicide as a permanent solution to a temporary problem.

From his own experience as a priest, he had found depression a significant factor in suicide, particularly if coupled with alcohol or substance abuse.

He said: “In the most tragic way, we avoid depression, we avoid people who have it, and then we are surprised when these people choose death as a form of anaesthesia.

“Most people who commit suicide do not want to die, but they have found the pain intolerable.”

Vanessa Buswell, coordinator of the Rainbow support service for the gay, lesbian and bisexual community in the Mid-West welcomed Fr Young’s comments.

She said: “Homosexuality is often preached as a sin. It’s good that Fr Young is speaking out and it’s not just the gay community raising these issues.

“We need more priests, teaches, and politicians engaging in dialogue on these matters.

Studies show that gay teenagers are four times more likely to commit suicide than their heterosexual counterparts.

Ms Buswell said: “The exclusion they feel leads to low self esteem and bad mental health.

“Teenagers have enough problems without them being compounded by discrimination suffered as a result of sexuality.”