Preliminary results from a blockbuster survey of black gay youth, conducted by the National Strategy for Black Gay Youth in America, reveals that 43 percent of black gay youth have thought about or attempted suicide as a result of issues related to their sexual orientation.

Released by Youth Pride Services, the report is the first of three to be released this year.

According to the results, over half of those surveyed fear or have experienced family disownment as a result of coming out of the closet.

Other statistics:

  • 22 percent experienced mental abuse related to their sexual orientation
  • 26 percent experienced anti-gay bullying
  • 11 percent are HIV positive; 7 percent do not know their status
  • 8 percent have been homeless due to their sexual orientation
  • 9 percent have been sexually abused as a result of their sexual orientation
  • 10 percent have been physically abused as a result of their sexual orientation

The survey respondents were asked to list items that would make life as a black gay youth more bearable; 90 percent listed “family acceptance,” making it the most popular item in the survey.

Tellingly, Illinois youth placed “race-related issues” second on their collective list. “Race Issues” ranked 8th nationally, suggesting that Illinois black gay youth “might be struggling with racism more than their peers in other parts of the country.”

From the Windy City Times:

“Frank Walker, director of Youth Pride Services in Chicago said that many of the results shocked him.

‘Other people should see these numbers,’ he said. ‘It really does show what it is like to grow up Black and gay in the U.S.’

Walker wants parents who have struggled to accept their LGBTQ children to see the report.

‘If they could take a look at their own child and look at all the issues that this survey reveals and put their own child in their minds… I think it would allow some Black parents to look at it from a different angle,’ he said.”

Read more at WindyCityMediaGroup.com

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Our young people deserve better than this, don’t they?

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