Canadian Study: Bullying Boosts Gay Suicide Rates

A new study at Concordia University has confirmed the obvious: anti-gay bullying increase the rate at which gays, lesbians and transgender individuals take their own lives. And yet most school divisions do little - or in case of the York County, Virginia schools - absolutely nothing to stop it. And it's not just those who have come out as gay who are targeted. Often those who are different or not conforming to backward and ignorant gender stereotypes get attacked as gay as well. In addition to the obvious emotional and psychological damage done to the victims of bullying, the new study goes further and suggest physiological results occur as well that can exacerbate the rate of suicides. Yet self-professed and self-congratulatory Christians - using the latter term very loosely, of course - continue their message of hate and ignorance hate to block effective anti-bullying policies. Meanwhile, school administrators abandon bullied students as the cower and give special privileges to Christianist bigotry - as if only anti-gay Christians have any rights. It sickens me. Here are highlights from Montreal Gazette on the study findings:
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Being bullied for being gay or lesbian can lead to a hormonal disruption that can boost suicide rates, memory loss, cardiovascular problems and bone density depletion, a study by a Concordia University graduate shows.
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“This shows that homophobia is bad for your health,” said the study’s author, Michael Benibgui. The newly released study is the first to prove a biological link between homophobic bullying and long-lasting physical and psychological conditions, he said.
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The results showed that victims of homophobia had disruptions in their output of cortisol, a hormone released in the brain as a response to stress. Normally, cortisol levels are highest in the morning and lowest in the evening, but those facing homophobic bullying consistently produced higher levels throughout the day, Benibgui said.
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While the study did not directly gauge participants’ physical side effects, it is well-known that cortisol disruptions can lead to physical ailments. Besides measuring cortisol, the study’s main focus was on whether participants were more depressed or had more thoughts of suicide or suicide attempts.
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“By seeking support, they might become more exposed and become more vulnerable” to verbal and physical attacks, Benibgui noted. “It’s a double-edged sword.”
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And yet parental, family and peer support for a person who is lesbian, gay or bisexual was the greatest countermeasure to cortisol disruption. Such support also strongly affected the person’s resiliency.
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Ongoing, relentless bullying needs to carry criminal charges for the bully and with minors, their ought to be liability attaching to parents and schools who refuse to rein in their children or students. Only when criminal charges and financial liability attach will we see a change in the currently indifferent attitudes.