One of the most sensitive and important priorities for the Tasmanian GLBTI community is the development of suicide and self harm prevention strategies by all our organisations, especially in areas where discrimination and harassment is endemic.
Given the recent disquiet over the Penguin situation, one would hope that ‘denial’ over the impact of harassment and discrimination will not come to the fore. National research and Tasmanian statistics indicate we should be concerned over the causal connection:
• 55% of gay men and lesbians had contemplated self-harm as a direct result of bullying:
• 40% had attempted self-harm or suicide on at least one occasion;
• 30% had done so more than once. (1)
• Same-sex attracted young people (SSAYP) are three times more likely to attempt suicide than heterosexual youth. (2)
• Rural SSAYP are six times more likely to attempt suicide than the population as a whole. (3)
While the state statistics for same-sex suicide rates is not as thorough as the national ones quoted above, the overall comparison general population rate is of very real concern.
• The Tasmanian suicide rate for 2004, including unconfirmed cases, was 17.22 per 100,000, which is 65% above the national rate of 10.43 per 100,000;
• In 2004 there were 83 cases of suicide in Tasmania (including five unconfirmed);
• Males accounted for 79% of cases;
• The largest group determined by age and gender was male 30 - 44, representing 29% of all cases in 2004.
Tasmanians have been invited to have a say in a statewide consultation into suicide prevention undertaken on behalf of the Tasmanian Suicide Prevention Steering Committee (TSPSC).
The consultation is designed to find out what is happening at the 'grass-root' level in over 30 Tasmanian communities, share this information, help to promote and facilitate community action, and build stronger communication links between the community and the government around suicide prevention. The information gathered will provide input into the next operational plan for the TSPSC.
The community consultation brought together ordinary people telling their stories and drawing the connection between same-sex attracted people self-harming or suiciding. It has been ‘gut wrenching’, as many parents (usually mothers) tell of
the struggle to keep their suicidal children alive, before losing them
as they get caught up in the health system.
At the same time, the moral right claims the ‘decadence of homosexuality’ as the cause of GLBTI youth suicide. In many communities this is a stressful and disturbing experience for parents and friends who have lost children. The lack of respect from the moral majority at the consultation was manifest in the incessant carping and the call to biblical rectitude.
The Coming Out Proud Program (COPP), being well placed with Community Liaison Committees (CLC) in four Tasmanian regions, has made a submission to the consultation. The submission has been supported by CLC members and local government appointed Liaison Councillors at the forums being held in over 30 townships.
The COPP submission details the following points:
• GLBTI health and well being issues, including self-harm and suicide prevention, relate in some part to improved legislation, policy and service provision. But this is not achieved without cultural change of evaluation and auditing of what is happening or not happening at the local and regional community for the GLBTI community.
• The ‘fear factor’ of being 'found out' as gay or lesbian complicates health and well being objectives as it applies to the GLBTI community. The denigration and homophobia existing in many communities seriously affects the well being and therefore the general health of the whole GLBTI community.
• Self-determination fosters the well being that comes from being in control of the process of change, rather than being controlled. In turn, a strong community educational approach needs to be developed in all regions and localities with the approval and bi-partisan support of community leaders and relevant organisations in relation to self-harm and suicide prevention. Local government services and programs have a strong lead role to play in this respect, as well as the more centralised state community and government and specialised GLBTI programs/services.
The most appropriate way of raising consciousness about what we can all do about self harm and suicide is telling the stories of our friends and loved ones who have paid the ultimate price for their rejection in the general community because they dared to be true and love according to their sexuality.
The story below, while not in its detail any one person's story, is a composite tale of people I have known and been involved with in my past as a Catholic priest. Those involved challenged me to be courageous and honest about my own sexuality and to be forever passionate about opposing discrimination and hatred towards anyone.
Footnotes
1. Rivers, I., 'The Bullying of Sexual Minorities At School: Its Nature and Long Term Correlates'. Educational and Child Psychology. 2001, Vol 18. p39.
2. Howard, J. et al, Same Sex Attracted Youth in Mental Health Promotion and Young People: Concepts and Practice. 2002. Eds Rowling, L, Martin, G., Walker, L. McGraw Hill, Australia.
3. Quinn, K., 'Rural Youth and Same Sex Attracted Youth: Issues, Interventions and Implications for Rural Counsellors'. Rural and Remote Health. 2003, Vol 3.
Laurence’s story
Laurence grew up a Catholic in a northern Tasmanian rural town. He was always considered 'different’, in that he was sensitive and gentle to the extreme.
At the local Catholic school he was often bullied by other boys. The teachers thought him ’angelic’ and probably headed for the priesthood, because he was sensitive, reflective and spiritual in his bearing.
Laurence’s parents were ‘mixed’ in their religious adherence: his father was Catholic and in an important administrative position in town, his mother from the Uniting Church and very close to Laurence. She had signed a pledge to bring her children up Catholic. There was another son, Michael. Both boys were close and supported one another at school. Michael, being the eldest and more self-assertive, always defended Laurence from bullies who tended to ‘zone in' on him.
At his Catholic high school, Laurence took to heart the moral teaching of the parish priest and religious school teachers, who unhealthily and too often condemned homosexuals as ‘mortally sinful and headed for hell unless they converted from their evil ways’.
As Laurence grew older he realised the Church was talking about him. He became conscious of his growing attraction to men, especially one of the teaching religious brothers. He had become an altar server because of this attraction and the ‘safety’ of being around a male group in the Church.
He developed a strong guilt response to his feelings and fantasies and admitted his feelings in Confession, only to be further condemned and urged to extreme acts of penance and self-denial.
Laurence’s parents were concerned at the unhappiness they saw in their son, but received no insights from teachers and professionals as to the cause. His father grew impatient about Laurence and Michael’s refusal to accompany him to Mass on Sundays and his sons' growing cynicism and unusual anger about the Church. While Michael had an understanding from intuition about his brother’s difference, he was loyal and uncommunicative about it. At some stage Laurence confided about his sexuality to his older brother and the bond was sealed, a huge burden on Michael.
Laurence left home to work and live in a provincial town as an apprenticeship in a large hotel and entertainment complex. Within six months he had suicided. An investigation brought no answers to his parents beyond the comment of the police that ‘there was some evidence of bullying at work from comments on the toilet wall’. The coronial inquiry and investigation gave no reason for the suicide. In Laurence’s parents' opinion, the right questions were not asked, everyone seemed to be in denial.
Laurence’s parents were desperate in their grief to understand and find meaning in Laurence’s terrible final act. Stories were rife in town. People crossed the road to avoid the family. Michael finally broke his silence to tell of Laurence’s awful burden and secret – he was also at breaking point and has never recovered from his depression.
Laurence’s mother blamed herself – in having signed the pledge to bring her sons up Catholic she felt she had signed Laurence’s death warrant. The parents travelled to Hobart to meet the Archbishop to explain their anger at the Church and to request some change in attitude, an admission of responsibility. They received no joy.
A Uniting Church minister, a friend of Laurence’s mother, formed a support network for parents of gay sons and daughters who had similar stories to tell. People have gained some sense of closure from this group – but none have recovered from the sadness, the deep depression in their lives.
Julian Punch
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