Don't erase your straight future

A new study by the Center for Disease Control highlights a troubling trend. The suicide rate for young people between the ages of 10 and 24 rose 8 percent from 2003 to 2004, the biggest spike in 15 years. Suicide is now the third-leading cause of death among young people, claiming 4,599 young lives in 2004.

Federal health officials said they can't fully explain the increase, but one organization is trying to address what it believes to be a cause: a culture that doesn't honor gay and lesbian achievement. According to the Trevor Project, homosexual teens are four times more likely to commit suicide than heterosexual teens. The organization's online campaign, "Don't Erase Your Queer Future," shows homosexual teens the struggles and achievements of famous homosexuals, asking what the world would be like if people like Oscar Wilde and Walt Whitman had committed suicide. The campaign encourages teens, "Stay in the present while believing that the future will be brighter for you."

But Scott Davis, director of student ministries for Exodus International, said that campaigns like this only deepen the despair of teens with homosexual attractions because they send the message, "You were born gay. That will never change." Some teens find those words hopeless, Davis said: "The world tells them they have no options. That's not what they want." Davis said Exodus International teaches that while teens can't choose their temptations, they can choose whether or not to act on them.

One participant at a recent Exodus International conference said he'd contemplated suicide because he felt trapped in the homosexual lifestyle. Knowing he could choose differently gave him "the first bit of hope he'd really had in a long time," Davis said.