LBGTQ Teen Suicide

365 Gay reports states LGBTQ teens are between 30 and 40 percent more likely to attempt suicide than their straight peers,being suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death among young people ages 10 to 24. 1 out of 6 students nationwide (grades 9-12) seriously considered suicide in the past year. Despite increased acceptance of LGBTQ people in today's pop culture, LGBTQ teens still suffer from bullying and abuse from peers, especially in middle school. With technology, the abuse goes beyond the classroom and into the realm of text messaging and social-networking sites, where comments are visible and can be brutal. So when an LGBTQ teen feels suicide is their only option, it can almost be said that they were bullied to death, because these suicide attempts by LGBTQ youth and questioning youth are 4 to 6 times more likely to result in injury, poisoning, or overdose that requires treatment from a doctor or nurse, compared to their straight peers . Currently, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services concludes the annual rate of suicide in the country at between 35,000 and 40,000 per year--and of those deaths, almost 20 percent are teens between the ages of 12 and 18. Each episode of LGBTQ victimization, such as physical or verbal harassment or abuse, increases the likelihood of self-harming behavior by 2.5 times on average. LGBTQ youth who come from highly rejecting families are 8.4 times as likely to have attempted suicide as LGBTQ peers who reported no or low levels of family rejection. In a national study, 40% of transgender adults reported having made a suicide attempt. 92% of these individuals reported having attempted suicide before the age of 25.