LGBT Mormon suicides

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In society at large LGBT individuals especially youth are at a higher risk of depression, anxiety, and suicide.[1][2] Though causes of mental health risk are complex, one oft cited reason for these higher risks is minority stress stemming from societal anti-LGBT biases and stigma, rejection, and internalized homophobia.[3] A 2016 empirical study found a correlation between the percentage of Latter-day Saints in a U.S. State and the suicide rates of that State, surmising the reason was due to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' stance on same-sex sexual relations.[4] However, the study could not examine what percentages of the deaths were LGBT persons or the percentage that were Latter-day Saints. A 2002 research report found a negative correlation in suicide between LDS Church youth members and nonmember youth in Utah, finding higher levels of religiosity appear to be inversely associated with suicide, though the study does not take into account sexual orientation or gender identity and expression.[5] Other studies have shown that LGBTQ Mormons and former Mormons experience higher rates of certain mental health disorders that are positively correlated with suicidality (such as PTSD, major depressive disorder, and generalized anxiety disorder) than the general population.[6][7][8] One Snowball sampling study of 1,612 LGBT Mormon and former Mormon respondents in 2015 found that involvement with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and being single and celibate or engaging in a mixed-orientation marriage are both associated with higher rates of depression and a lower quality of life for LGBT individuals.[9] A nonprobability sampling technique observed clinically significant symptoms of complex post-traumatic stress disorder related to religious beliefs and experiences at high rates among affiliated and disaffiliated LGBTQ Mormons in the study.[10][11]

In January 2016 the LDS Church stated in regards to reported suicides of LGBT Mormons that leaders and members are taught to "reach out in an active, caring way to all, especially to youth who feel estranged or isolated."[12] Affirmation, the largest and oldest continuously run LGBT Mormon organization, reported over 30 LGBT LDS deaths by suicide between 1971 and 2008[13][14] including five gay male Brigham Young University students who died by suicide in 1965.[15][16]

Research[]

Teen suicide rates in Utah and the United States have increased over the past decade.[17] Among Utah youth aged 10–17 who died by suicide during 2011–2015 with circumstances data, approximately 40.4% of decedents with information were identified as being religious, with the majority affiliated with the LDS Church. Of the 40 cases that included information on the decedent's sexual orientation, six (15.0%) were identified as sexual minorities.[18]

Studies have shown that LGBTQ Latter-day Saints and LGBT former Latter-day Saints experience higher rates of certain mental health disorders such as PTSD and major depressive disorder than the general population, and these are positively correlated with suicidality. One study of 1,612 LGBT Latter-day Saint and former Latter-day Saint respondents in 2015 found that involvement with the LDS Church and being single and celibate or engaging in a mixed-orientation marriage are both associated with higher rates of depression and a lower quality of life for LGBT individuals.[9] Depression has been shown to have a strong positive correlation with suicidal intent.[6] Clinically significant symptoms of complex post-traumatic stress disorder related to their experiences within Mormonism have also been observed at high rates among affiliated and disaffiliated LGBTQ Latter-day Saints,[10][11][19] and PTSD is associated with suicide attempts and ideation.[7][8]

The US Department of Health and Human Services had found in 1989 that nearly 1 of 3 adolescent suicides in the US were by lesbian and gay teens.[20] Another 2001 study found that homosexual teens were 2.5 times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers with suggestions that higher rates of depression, victimization by bullies, and alcohol use to numb anxiety from hiding ones stigmatized sexual orientation may be causative factors.[20]

Suicide attempts and ideation[]

Suicide attempts and ideation have been experienced by many LGBT Latter-day Saints. In a 2015 survey of 92 LGBTQ Brigham Young University (BYU) students done by USGA, 52% had at some point considered self-harm.[21] Below is a list of a at one time LDS-affiliated LGBTQ individuals who reported serious suicidal ideation or suicide attempts.

  • Alex Cooper — Lesbian Latter-day Saint teen. Cooper was subjected to physically and emotionally abusive conversion therapy techniques under her Latter-day Saint parents' orders beginning in 2010 in an attempt to change her sexual orientation. She reported attempting suicide.[21][22][23]
  • Davyd Daniels — Daniels reported to The New York Times in 1986 that he had attempted suicide at the age of 12 due to the guilt caused by church teachings on his gay feelings.[24]
  • Clay Essig — Essig reported writing a note while at the brink of suicide after years of trying to change his attractions through therapy originally prescribed to him by his BYU bishop.[25]
  • Levi Jackman Foster — Foster is a queer artist/ photographer[26][27] and activist[28] raised as a Latter-day Saint in Alaska. He reported that, he feared rejection when he came out to himself at 15, was sent by his parents at age 16 to a conversion therapy program (Evergreen International) in Utah, had suicidal thoughts and ran away cutting ties with his family till 18.[29]
  • Tyler Glenn — Neon Trees lead singer Glenn stated that he was trying to reconcile his sexual orientation and belief in the LDS Church when the 5 November 2015 policy change was leaked leading to a feeling that church was a "toxic space" for him generating feelings of suicide.[30]
  • Judd Hardy – The teenage son of bishop David Eccles attempted suicide in early 1999 after coming out to family in 1995 and going through reparative therapy in an attempt to change his sexual attraction as church pamphlets said was possible. His suicide attempt happened right after a church meeting lesson on Sodom and Gomorrah. Hardy stated that it, "wasn't [done] out of despair as much as it was [done] almost out of duty. ... The church wanted me to change, and ... I couldn't change .... It was a quick resolution before doing the damage of falling into a life of sin. I believed too strongly in the church and the church's values, and I placed those above my own life." Hardy's parents would later become activists openly criticizing the LDS Church's teachings on gay people.[31]
  • Brenna McGrath — Bisexual BYU student Brenna McGrath stated in 2017 that she was attempting to overdose herself on medication after feeling isolated, and that church was a "toxic environment" for her.[21]
  • McLean — Latter-day Saint composer Michael McLean stated that his gay son (whose first name was not stated) was suicidal during the church's California campaign to ban same-sex marriage.[32]
  • Alison Kluzek — Kluzek reported that she was suicidal during a time after coming out to her religious parents as a trans woman while they initially refused her request to begin transitioning by hormone therapy. She felt that they would either have a dead son or a new daughter.[33]
  • Jordan Montgomery — In the 2013 short documentary Families are Forever, teenage Montgomery discussed his suicidal ideation as well as the attempts of a Latter-day Saint therapist to change his sexual orientation.[34][35]
  • Alex Shafer — Shafer reported sliding into a suicidal depression after enter a mixed-orientation marriage at the end of his university studies. He had participated in Evergreen, seen several therapists, and prayed to become straight, but felt like a failure when his romantic attraction to other men did not change.[36]
  • Craig Watts — In the 1999 PBS documentary Friends and Family: A Community Divided, Watts, then a young man, reported that he cried multiple times and thought of suicide again after coming out to local church leaders in Japan where he was studying and being excommunicated from the church.[37]

LGBT deaths by suicide[]

A number of individuals[38][39] and organizations[40] have stated their belief that church teachings against homosexuality and the treatment of LGBT Mormons by other members and leaders has contributed to LGBT Mormon suicides.[41][21][42][43] In the late 1990s psychiatrist Jeffery R. Jensen[44] directed his presentations' comments to church leaders and LDS Family Services stating that "far too many of our lesbian and gay youths kill themselves because of what you say about them," and "those who believe your false promises and remain celibate in the hopes of eventual 'cure' are consigned to a misery."[45][46] Soon after, the American Psychiatric Association disavowed therapy trying to change sexual orientation as ineffective and destructive.[47] A church leader did not take a position on conversion therapy when asked in 2006.[48][49]: 17–20  Church leaders began explicitly stating that same-sex physical attractions were not a choice in 2012[49]: 21  and stating that therapy focusing on a change in sexual orientation was unethical in 2016.[50] Below are a few media-reported suicides of LGBT individuals from Mormon backgrounds, with the year of death noted in parentheses.

  • Carlyle Marsden (1976) — BYU music professor Marsden died by suicide[51] two days after being outed by an arrest for alleged homosexual activity.[52][53][54]
  • Unnamed (1980s) — A gay BYU student died by suicide a few months into a mixed-orientation temple marriage encouraged by his stake president Richard Cracroft who was a BYU professor. Cracroft later stated in reference to the event that, "admittedly, not many of us [church leaders] know how to counsel homosexuals."[55]
  • Unnamed (1987) — Painter Randall Lake (who was gay and had married a woman in an LDS temple before leaving the marriage) produced several portraits of suicide including one of his Mormon boyfriend who had hung himself a few days after he was ostracized when they both came out.[56]
  • Stuart Matis (2000) — 32-year-old Matis, a gay Mormon active in the church, died by suicide on 25 February 2000 on the steps of a California church stake center building.[57][58] His death came during the height of the LDS Church's fight to ban same-sex marriage in California with Proposition 22, also known as Knight's Initiative.[59][60] Shortly before his death he wrote a 12-page letter to his cousin in which he states that when he heard the church was asking members to donate time and money in support of Prop 22 he "cried for hours in [his] room" and he felt that the church's positions created an environment "hostile for young gay Mormons." The letter also stated "straight members have absolutely no idea what it is like to grow up gay in this church.... It is a life of constant torment, self-hatred and internalized homophobia."[61] The same month he also wrote a letter to the editor that was published in BYU's newspaper[21][62] pleading for the acceptance of homosexual individuals in response to a letter published five days before[63] which had compared homosexuality to pedophilia, bestiality and Satanism.[64] Right before his death he wrote a note stating, "The church has no idea that ... there are surely boys and girls on their callused hands and knees imploring God to free them of their pain. They hate themselves ... God never intended me to be straight. Hopefully, my death might be a catalyst for some good."[65][66]
  • D.J. Thompson (2000) — Two weeks after Stuart's death a 33-year-old gay Mormon man in Florida died by suicide after writing a note referencing Stuart's death. The note stated that Proposition 22 was the "last straw in my lifelong battle to see peace in the world."[67][68]
  • Clay Whitmer (2000) — Three weeks after Stuart's death, another gay Mormon in California who was involved in his church community was a victim of suicide. Whitmer, who had become close friends with Matis while the two were serving an LDS mission in Italy had attempted suicide six times over the space of several years, but died by suicide on the seventh attempt after Matis' death.[59][61][69][70]
  • Bryan Michael Egnew (2011) — After 40-year-old Egnew came out as gay to his wife, she immediately left North Carolina with their children, his family shunned him, and local leaders excommunicated him within two weeks because he refused to denounce his sexual orientation. He died by suicide a few weeks later.[71][72]
  • Jack Denton Reese (2012) — Seventeen-year-old Reese was from a small town in Utah where over 90% of the residents were LDS.[73] He died by suicide in 2012 after experiencing severe physical and verbal bullying at school.[74][75]
  • Harry Fisher (2016) — Fisher was a 28-year-old BYU history student and had come out on Facebook about two months before his death on the 12th of February. He reported hearing anti-gay rhetoric from individuals around him and leaving church meetings to cry in his car.[76]
  • Lincoln Parkin (2016) — Parkin was a 22-year-old man who grew up in Pleasant View, Utah and received an award in 2012 for reestablishing the gay-straight alliance at Weber High School after having a gay friend die by suicide.[77] He attended Westminster College and had attempted suicide before having experienced significant depression for a decade but died by suicide on the 6th of April.[78][79]
  • Braxton Taylor (2016) — On September 23, 19-year-old Taylor, a student of Weber State University, died by suicide.[80] His story gained media attention when an LDS political candidate[81] criticized his suicide and sexual orientation as a sin of murder and homosexuality,[82][83] a statement which received national criticism.[84][85]
  • Stockton Powers (2016) — After a suicide attempt in 2012, 17-year-old Stockton died from suicide in 2016. He reported in 2015 that many church members had stopped talking to him after he came out and excluded him from events, with some mothers in his congregation stating they would not allow their sons to go to Scout camp if Stockton went.[86][87][88]

Church statements and suicide prevention efforts[]

The LDS Church released a statement through spokesman Dale Jones on 28 January 2016 mourning the reported suicides of 32 LGBT Mormons. The release stated that leaders and members are taught to "reach out in an active, caring way to all, especially to youth who feel estranged or isolated."[12][21] On 9 February 2016 when apostle Dallin H. Oaks was asked about church leaders and members' responsibility for the treatment of LGBT individuals that may have precipitated in suicides he stated "that's a question that will be answered on judgment day" and that "nobody is sadder about a case like that than I am."[89] In June 2016 the church published its official Mental Health website[90] followed shortly in September 2016 by its official Preventing Suicide website.[91] In August 2017, the LDS Church supported the LoveLoud Festival, a concert event at Utah Valley University raising money for charities which support LGBTQ youth.[92] In April 2018, the LDS Church donated $150,000 to the state of Utah to aid in suicide prevention.[93] In July 2018, the LDS Church donated $25,000 to the LGBT advocacy group Affirmation: LGBT Mormons, Families & Friends to aid in worldwide suicide prevention training.[94]

References[]

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  10. ^ a b Simmons, Brian (December 2017). "Coming out Mormon: An examination of religious orientation, spiritual trauma, and PTSD among Mormon and ex-Morman LGBTQQA adults" (PDF). University of Georgia Theses and Dissertations: 99. Therefore, data from this study would indicate that LDS teachings and beliefs are often experienced as spiritually damaging to LGBTQQA members and former members. Similarly, the study respondents presented as having substantial PTSD symptomology related to their experiences within Mormonism, with approximately three-quarters (73.4%, n=204) likely meeting criteria for associated PTSD diagnosis during their lifetime. This prevalence is far above the 8% estimated for the U.S. population.
  11. ^ a b Williams, Brian (December 2017). "Coming out Mormon". uga.edu. University of Georgia. The majority of [the 278 survey] participants (85.6%) were raised in an LDS family and half (51.8%) indicated they still attend LDS services at least monthly. On average, participants identified 13.8 religious beliefs, teachings, or experiences as 'damaging' or 'extremely damaging.' A majority of participants (89.2%) likely met criteria for PTSD diagnosis related to their religious experiences. ... Overall, the findings of this study indicate LGBTQQA Mormon and ex-Mormon adults experience a substantial amount of spiritual trauma and PTSD related to their religious experiences.
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  33. ^ Brown, Jennifer (25 September 2015). "Alison's Story". The Denver Post. Their initial response to hormones was unequivocal: no way. ... Alison, meanwhile, became a recluse. It was the summer of long, solitary walks, of curling up in a ball, crying into her pillow. ... The pain was unbearable, and I just wanted it to end. I saw two endings to this.' In one of them, she did not survive. It came down to this question, ringing in Erik’s head: 'Do you want a dead son who committed suicide, or do you want a new daughter?' ... It was a crisis of faith that left Alison open to feel and to discover her identity. Half a year before she considered that she was transgender, Alison began questioning her belief in the Mormon Church. ... Alison now says that 'being trans and being in the church is like being in an abusive relationship.'
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