National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention Tackles LGBT Suicide

By Kellan Baker and Josh Garcia

Kellan Baker is a health policy analyst with the LGBT Research and Communications Project at the Center for American Progress and a member of the Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention LGBT Task Force. Josh Garcia is an intern with the Project. 

Before he completed suicide at the age of 26 in 2010, Joseph Jefferson recorded his final words on Facebook: “I could not bear the burden of living as a gay man of color in a world grown cold and hateful towards those of us who live and love differently than the so-called ‘social mainstream.’”

Though LGBT suicide is frequently portrayed as a wholly youth phenomenon, Joseph was an LGBT activist who had built a life for himself as an adult after getting through what many people assume to be the only tough part of an LGBT person’s life—adolescence.

The National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention, the public-private partnership aimed at saving the more than 34,000 lives in the United States lost every year to suicide, has taken a lead in changing public misperceptions about LGBT suicide. In particular, the Action Alliance task force that concentrates on the LGBT population has changed its name from the LGBT Youth Task Force to the LGBT Populations Task Force, acknowledging the struggles with suicide ideation, suicide attempts, and death by suicide that many LGBT people confront at different points in their lives.

The reasons that suicide is a lifelong concern for many LGBT people are complex and dynamic. These risk factors include family rejection, lack of social support, lack of access to culturally competent healthcare providers, and the stress of living with discrimination and prejudice.

Because of family or employment obligations, many LGBT adults, like most LGBT youth, do not get to choose where they live and work—often leaving them trapped in hostile environments with family members, co-workers, or neighbors who do not accept them.

Certain protective factors may mitigate these risks. Such factors include family acceptance, affirming and culturally competent mental and behavioral health services, and policies that extend legal protections and promote acceptance.

Indeed, the past several years have seen several advances across the country on behalf of fairness for LGBT people. New York state passed marriage equality for same-sex couples in 2011, and Washington state and Maryland followed suit in 2012. And, recently, the federal government has taken an active role in implementing LGBT-inclusive laws and policies.

But much remains to be done to help eliminate suicidal thoughts and behavior among LGBT individuals. In addition to increased legal protections and working to change stubborn social prejudices, there is a particularly pressing need for further research and data collection regarding mental health and suicide among the gay and transgender population.

Currently, there are no national data regarding suicidal ideation or suicide rates among the LGBT population as a whole. Nor are there sufficient data regarding the experiences of specific segments of the LGBT population, including LGBT youth and elders, transgender adults, and LGBT people of color, who may be at increased risk because of the multiple burdens of discrimination they bear.

Thus, as part of the implementation of the upcoming National Strategy for Suicide Prevention (NSSP), the Action Alliance must take the lead in pushing for nationally representative data on suicide rates among the LGBT population. These data will inform the development and implementation of evidence-based interventions that can help protect the lives of LGBT people.

Such interventions may include initiatives fostering resilience and help-seeking behaviors among LGBT people, connecting them with providers who are both familiar with mental and behavioral health issues and comfortable accepting and respecting their LGBT clients, and promoting supportive school, work, and other environments.

In addition to driving research that can guide efforts to prevent LGBT suicide, the ultimate purpose of the Action Alliance is to save lives by decreasing the rate of suicide in our country. And to do this, each one of us—whether LGBT or ally, pastor or policymaker, researcher or activist—must respond to the moral imperative to help build a world where LGBT people count and are counted, and where they can live their lives free from discrimination, harassment, and the violence of suicide. 

It is hope...that keeps me working

I am an advocate for suicide awareness and prevention.   My husband, Bill Popp, and I have worked for many years to help educate the general public about the signs of an impending suicide, plus ensure that support is offered to survivors of suicide.

Teri E. Popp

President of the Minnesota Military Family Tribute

 Limited Partner in the Minnesota Timberwolves

National Action Alliance Executive Committee Member

Eighteen years ago, I was diagnosed with a major depressive episode.  Interestingly, I did not have a trigger for this episode.  In some ways, that made my diagnosis easier.  However, I can say, without a doubt, that I would not have been diagnosed, at least not at that time, without the strong support of my husband and family.  In fact, I might not have made it to a diagnosis at all. 

When I was diagnosed, depression was not spoken about.  It was classified as a mental illness, and mental illnesses were not discussed.  In addition, I grew up in a military family, being the child of a career Air Force officer.  As a result, you didn’t, generally, speak about failings.  And depression and mental illness were certainly seen as failings. 

But I have a husband who is remarkable.  And he got me the aid I needed. He did not view my depression as a failing, but instead, viewed it as a treatable disease, like diabetes.  Because of his support and enlightened thoughts about depression, I now speak openly and honestly about my depression and the possible ramifications.  We understand that deadly consequences can occur with untreated depression.  We also understand the genetics involved within families.  We hope to help other families, as well as our own, in correctly identifying depression and having it treated to avoid the long-term pain and suffering that can ensue from a lack of diagnosis.

We have learned that peer-to-peer counseling and open dialogue and communication are some of the more effective methods of working to curb suicide rates.  My husband and I are lucky to have Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (SAVE) nearby, and we are strong proponents of SAVE’s work.  We would like to see that great work continued and expanded from a regional to a national level.

Recently, I was privileged to attend the SAVE Fashion Show to help raise funds for suicide prevention on the regional level.  One of the women there came up and thanked me for my involvement and support.  She asked me if I was being helped in collecting my auction items.  I said, “Yes, the young lady behind the counter is helping me.”  The woman responded:  “That is my daughter, Angel.  And she truly is my angel.  I had two teenage sons who committed suicide and, through the work of [suicide prevention agencies], I see hope for my angel.”  It is hope, such as this mother’s, that keeps me working to see that suicide prevention is addressed on a national level.

In closing, I would like to say that one of the most intriguing aspects of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention is that it is a private, as well as public, initiative.  The NAASP offers a golden opportunity for the private sector to work directly with government agencies.  This is not a problem that can be solved by the government or by individuals alone—we all must work together, in partnership, to eradicate suicide.  I am honored to be a small part of this monumental endeavor. 

Self Built Lonely Walls

The first I heard of suicide was a story about my great uncle told by my parents when I was a child. He was a Navy Seabee, loved by many, and then gone. He took his life. I wondered why? Another story told to me, a threat of suicide during my college days…my friend talking her roommate down from exiting via the window of a high-rise dorm building, lots of screaming, tears, then hugs, and then off to the college pub to party…it will be ok? Then as a high school substitute teacher hearing rumors among students about life-threatening behaviors, they were just high. Everything was fine? Attitudes and behavior merging to silence often so lonely, and so quiet, suicide not to be spoken of, yet almost deafening noise created by loss, pain, and anguish.

Brian Dyak
President and CEO
Entertainment Industries Council, Inc.
National Action Alliance Executive Committee Member

Finally out of college ready to tackle the world, I was young, married, and energetic. Opportunity abounded, she a trained crisis intervention teen counselor and me an activist organizing and creating youth crisis services for runaway youth. I heard stories of dysfunctional families, physically abusive family circumstances, alcohol abuse and drug addiction, rape, incest, violence, and suicide. My path became clearer to help make the community aware that compassion was necessary and services such as hot lines and crises centers were essential. The challenge: to somehow stop the cycle of discontent and to work to make things better by finding like-minded people who cared and promote services that can assist.

Then, what seemed to me out of nowhere, I came home to find that my wife compromised her life and her service to others by ending her life. The same friend who talked her roommate out of jumping. I took solace in a note that spoke of love and life and her trials to be a part of this world. She spoke of her own “self built lonely walls” and vindicated those who loved her clearing the blame, guilt, suspicion, and doubt. She put forth a challenge to discover how strong one must be to go on. A challenge she chose not to accept for herself. I went forward with great confusion. What could I have done?

Unfortunately it did not stop. My friend and college roommate, a talented musician, decided he “had enough” following in the footsteps of one of his good friends who permanently left his children and family to fend for themselves. I wrote his parents to lend what support I could, explaining all the good that their son had bestowed on so many and his high standard of friendship. Other suicides surfaced in my life among close family, friends and acquaintances, the most recent a friend who just lost his son a few months ago. How can anyone really understand that split-second of decision to actually leave life behind?

Suicide, creating wounds and then scars for life, challenges the power of optimism that the world can be a better place. Yet, like a huge human experiment of life, I have been fortunate finding compassion and support from loved ones early on, learning the importance of sending out love, unconditional love, and finding like-minded people. The havoc suicide does to relationships may be countered by love and time. Working together towards understanding and openness is essential…hiding only contributes to the loneliness and the confusion, a consideration I made when I said yes to writing this blog. I also deeply considered the contributions that the media could make to suicide prevention.

The National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention is an amalgamation for me of what has been, what is, and what can be. It is an honor to participate as a member of its Executive Committee. The Action Alliance is a gift that permits many people with varied life experiences and vast expertise to work together on behalf of others and unselfishly themselves. The notion that shaping public policy, service to others, raising awareness, and educating about real-life circumstances of suicide is a power that states,” I am not alone, we are not alone”. Feeling the support of others, communicating the caring for the purpose and mission, and, most importantly, showing love of life and optimism creates opportunity that together we can truly make a difference. I believe we can set a course that can break down “self built lonely walls” and let life be the gift it is intended to be. The Action Alliance is a vehicle for that belief to come true and I am grateful to be able to play a small part.