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Keeping sexual and gender minority youth above ground: Need for LGBTQ centres on campuses
October 30, 2019
Suicide is the second most common cause of death for Canadian youth, ages 15–24 (Statistics Canada, 2011; as cited in Peter & Taylor, 2014), and has been the most common cause of death among queer youth in North America (Campos, 2005; as cited in Wells, 2009). Though they may share some common risk and protective factors for suicidality with their heterosexual and cisgender peers, sexually and gender diverse youth are at heightened risk to consider and attempt suicide (Moody & Grant, 2013; Peter & Taylor, 2014; Marshall, 2016; Mullaney, 2016). The prevalence of queer youth suicides garnered international attention in 2010 first with the suicide of Tyler Clementi of Rutgers University (who had been outed through a video posted by his roommate), then followed soon after by two others (Mullaney, 2016). Attention to this issue prompted the spread of awareness and solidarity campaigns, such as Spirit Day (GLAAD, n.d.) and the It Gets Better campaign (Mullaney, 2016). Canadian post-secondary institutions have a responsibility to foster a safe and inclusive learning environment and campus. Building on the study findings by Peter & Taylor (2014) regarding risk and protective factors for suicidality among queer youth in Canada, establishing an LGBTQ office/centre on campus will be…
