Nearly Two Million LGBTQ Teens in US Consider Suicide Each Year

Nearly two million LGBTQ teens in the U.S. think about suicide, according to a new research.

Trevor Project’s latest research reveals that LGBTQ teens aged 13 to 18 years of age are ‘twice as likely to contemplate’ suicide as those in the group of 19 to 24 years. The organization’s director of research, Amy Green told NBC News the numbers are conservative estimates. Green explained that these numbers are the bare minimum they could be because the team used a conservative method to conclude their estimates.

“The fact that we still arrived at these huge astonishing numbers shows that this is a serious health problem,” she said.

Green said over 70 percent of the research participants experienced discrimination due to their sexual orientation or gender identity while two-thirds of the participants said someone tried to convince them to change their identities. She explained that Trevor Project’s latest research indicated how widespread the problem is.

“I hope this research will inspire the country to come together to change policies on the state and federal levels that affect LGBTQ youth’s lives, like ending the harmful practice of conversion therapy, as well as inspire other researchers who are looking into this area to study the factors and find solutions,” Green said.

A mental health survey which was release earlier this month attributed multiple factors that negatively affect the well-being of queer adolescents, with the most important factor being ‘lack of acceptance’. The Trevor Project said queer youth who come from highly rejecting families are 8.4 times likely to have attempted suicide as fellow peers who reported no or low levels of family rejection.

Moreover, researchers say suicide attempts by LGBTQ youth are four to six times more likely to result in injury, poisoning or overdose that requires treatment from a medical professional compared to their straight peers.