LGBTQ: Suicidal Thinking and Behaviors

In his book, Suicide in America, Herbert Hendin, MD (former Executive Director, American Suicide Foundation) offered this common-sense understanding:

With all its sexual and social activity, the “gay life” provides no more than an alienated and isolated existence for many homosexuals. Continuity of relationships between two homosexuals is rare, although many homosexuals spend a lifetime seeking it. For those who do seek it, any relationship that offers that possibility is apt to be intensely over invested rather quickly. Since such relationships usually lack social or family support, rejection or disappointment signifies not merely abandonment but despair over the inability to escape emotional isolation.

A report speculated:

… more than one third of suicides in the total population were committed by homosexual men – figures that put them at least two to three times more likely to commit suicide than the general population. Researchers conclude, “Increased receptive anal sex behavior may in itself be considered a form of avoidant coping or suicidal behavior.” 

A study from the Australian Institute for Suicide Research confirmed that,

… a leading cause of suicide among “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex” (LGBTI) people is stress from their romantic partners. “We tend to assume that the psychological distress LGBTI people are often going through is due to family rejection. But it seems that’s not so much the case. The conflict seems to be largely related to relationship problems, with partners,” Dr. Skerrett [head of the research team] said. “The numbers are telling us there’s a general acceptance at the family level,” something he said is “great” and “really heartening!”…

The researchers with AISRAP also found that a higher percentage of homosexuals took their lives [out] of despondency, rather than other psychological illnesses. While one-eighth of all Queensland suicide victims had been diagnosed with a psychosis that impaired their judgment, Skerrett reports 

“there were no such diagnoses among LGBT individuals.” The conclusion adds to the consensus that depression disproportionately besets active homosexuals.

 In GLB-affirming Sweden (where the suicide victim’s “sexual orientation” is recorded), suicide risk was found to be slightly elevated among female “married” couples, and almost three times as high among male “married” couples, compared to heterosexual married couples. ...

Similarly in Denmark (in the first twelve years of legalized domestic partnerships),

… the age-adjusted suicide rate for same-sex RDP [registered domestic partner] men was nearly eight times the rate for men in heterosexual marriages and nearly twice the rate for men who had never married. 

Note that U.S. reports on LGBTQ suicidality give figures on suicide risk or attempts, not completed suicides since the “sexual orientation” of the deceased is not noted in records. ...

A 2014 study shows self-reported suicide attempts for homosexuals and lesbians are 10-20%, vs. 4.6% for the overall U.S. population. (The figures show 41% of transgenders report they have attempted suicide.)

 The American Association of Suicidology notes a study showing “gay men were 6 times more likely than the heterosexual males to attempt suicide and the lesbians were 2 times more likely than heterosexual females to attempt.”