LGBT Hate Crimes and Suicidality Among a Population-Bases...

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Hate Crimes and Suicidality Among a Population-Based Sample of Sexual-Minority Adolescents in Boston Until 1973, the American Psychiatric Association regarded the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) community as consisting of sociopathic individuals with personality disorders. Today, the stigma has lifted off of these individuals and relationships among the LGBTs are no longer crimes in the US and many other countries; however, select individuals have now taken matters into their own hands exercising differential justice in the form of transnational hate crimes against the social group. In the US alone, roughly one in five all its hate crimes are motivated by the victims sexual†¦show more content†¦Classrooms, consisting of 9th-through-12th graders from racially and ethnically diverse backgrounds, were randomly sampled to complete the Boston Youth Survey. The correlation research study excluded schools that served adults, previously incarcerated students, suspended students, and severely disabled studen ts to minimize introduction of confounding variables. Participants in the Boston Youth Survey (BYS) were asked specifically with regards to their individual-level sexual orientation and suicidal ideation and attempts among other questions. Of the 2725 individuals sampled, 1878 completed the survey and were asked, on the sexual orientation item in the BYS questionnaire, to identify themselves with 1 of 6 categories that best described themselves: (1) completely heterosexual, (2) mostly heterosexual, (3) bisexual, (4) mostly homosexual, (5) completely homosexual (i.e., gay or lesbian), or (6) not sure. Respondents were then asked explicitly Have you seriously considered attempting suicide? and Have you actually attempted suicide? [within the 12 months preceding survey administration] with yes and no response options for those questions (Duncan Hatzenbuehler, 2014). To test their hypothesis, researchers then obtained LGBT hate crimes data with help from the Boston Police Department Community Disorders Unit and linked the community information to