A new survey found that high school-age lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students in Vermont are more than four times more likely to attempt suicide than their cisgender and straight peers.
The 2017 Youth Risk Behavior survey released by the Department of Health found that 33 percent of LGBT high school students reported having planned suicide, while 18 percent reported attempting suicide.
Thatโs compared to 8 percent of cisgender and straight students who reported planning suicide, and 4 percent who reported attempting suicide.
LGBT youth also are three times more likely to skip school because they feel unsafe. Ten percent said they had been threatened or injured with a weapon on school property, according to the biannual survey, which polls about three quarters of Vermontโs high schoolers.
โThe Health Department is committed to working with our partner to confront and rectify these inequities so that everyone in Vermont has a fair and just opportunity to be healthy,โ Health Commissioner Mark Levine said in a news release last Wednesday.
The Vermont Youth Risk Behavior Survey surveys 34,000 in middle school and high school were across 122 schools representing 76 percent of all Vermont high schoolers and 83 percent of Vermont middle schoolers.
It provides the most comprehensive data on LGBT youth experience in Vermont and the numbers have remained relatively consistent in 2013 and 2015, said Dana Kaplan, executive director of Outright Vermont, a queer and trans youth service organization based in Burlington.
โI think the study shows there is a real sense of loneliness and isolation … and is a product of systemic oppression,โ Kaplan said.
Kaplan said bringing these statistics down significantly would require changes to curriculum in school, acceptance at home and laws that protect youth, such as the recently passed bathroom bill, which will mandate all single-use bathrooms be gender-free come July 1.
Kaplan also said that having a strong and informed adult network is essential to supporting LGBT youth. โAs adults, itโs our responsibility to be able to recognize the world is changing,โ Kaplan said.
The national suicide hotline can be reached at 1-800-273-8255.