October 29th, 1997 to November 4th, 1997

Suicide

Part Three: The Grown Ups

by Lori Weiner

There are many causes for adult suicide: depression, catastrophic life change, illness. For gays and lesbians, especially those coming of age in the earlier part of this century, the risks have been multiplied; society's misunderstanding and labeling of homosexuality have caused endless gays and lesbians endless amounts of pain, pain that only was named and validated in the last 25 years. Prior to that, many gays and lesbians simply suffered in silence-and many paid with their lives.

Particularly in the pre-Stonewall era, ostracization, isolation, and rejection from mainstream society contributed to higher suicide rates among gays and lesbians. And in the post-Stonewall years, the optimism and energy fueling the first wave of gay activism did not cease the suffering and self-doubt instilled in many of its soldiers.

In 1983, Grey Fox Press published a landmark volume by Eric C. Rofes, I Thought People Like That Killed Themselves: Lesbians, Gay Men, And Suicide. The book was conceived after Rofes published an article in The Advocate about gays and suicide. The book takes its title from a comment allegedly made by King George V of England after being told that one of his associates was homosexual. The king reportedly mused, "I thought fellows like that shot themselves."

Rofes attributes early American society's condemnation of both homosexuality and suicide as major stressors leading lesbians and gay men to self-destruction. Gays and lesbians were viewed as transgressors, wanton creatures uncaringly drowning themselves in mortal sin. As such, they were not treated kindly.

Rofes notes that "it was not until the publication of Emile Durkheim's Le Suicide in 1897 that suicide was recognized not merely as the result of an individual's weak nature, but as a response to social factors." Durkheim's work showed that "... the actual cause of suicide is related to social factors and especially to the integration of the individual into society."

Rofes further notes that most gays and lesbians in the early 1900s avoided detection by disguising their primary relationships as "special friendships." These gays and lesbians were lucky; they were permitted to live relatively shielded from public wrath. It was a very different story for those actually exposed as homosexuals. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, virtually everybody unlucky enough to be "caught" was subject to criminal charges, the most popular being "lewd conduct," sodomy, and "lying with (someone of the same sex)" statutes existing at that time. Punishment for those convicted was the most barbaric and included hanging, burning at the stake, castration, and public flogging.

While some gays and lesbians discovered during these repressive times (one of those Rofes identifies as so doing is Horatio Alger) fled to the more accepting urban centers where enclaves of courageous men and women were just beginning to form the basis of the modern gay community, many more, disgraced and frightened, killed themselves.

As the decades progressed, lesbians and gay men continued to be stigmatized as "sick" and "suffering." The notion of a healthy, high-functioning and self-accepting gay man or lesbian was unheard of. Psychiatrists actively attempted to "reorient" homosexual patients to heterosexuality, a practice still today (although it has been officially discredited by the American Psychiatric Association).

This environment, while friendlier than that of previous years, remained a dangerous and unforgiving one for gays and lesbians. And, as before, many committed suicide rather than face the shame and degradation associated with being a homosexual in the 1950s and early 1960s. It is widely believed that gay suicide rates in these years were accelerated by frequent bar raids, usually resulting in the publication of detainee's names and home addresses in the next morning's newspaper.

After Stonewall, social acceptance-and conditions-for gays and lesbians began slowly to improve. But while the newfound militancy of the nascent gay liberation movement was a boon to American culture and certainly enhanced the lives of homosexuals, it did not negate the poisonous effects of years of oppression and denial. Suicide attempts-and "completed" suicides- remained a community problem.

Rofes reports that a 1970 study by Alan Bell and Martin Weinberg of Indiana University's Institute for Sex Research included 575 white gay men, 111 African-American gay men, 229 white lesbians, and 64 African-American lesbians. The researchers also chose heterosexual respondents matching the gay sample in terms of race, sex, age, and education. Bell and Weinberg found that 37% of white gay men had either "seriously considered or attempted" suicide, as opposed to 13% of the straight white men. The contrast between African-American men was even more striking: 24% of African-American gay men had considered or attempted suicide while only 2% of heterosexual African-American men had similar experiences.

The correlation between women was not as dramatic: 41% of white lesbians and 25% of African-American lesbians had considered or attempted suicide, as opposed to 26% of white heterosexual women and 19% of African-American heterosexual women.

Rofes also tells of a 1973 study by Marcel Saghis and Eli Robins. Their report, "Male and Female Homosexuality: A Comprehensive Investigation," compared a sample of 89 gay men, 57 lesbians, 40 heterosexual men, and 44 heterosexual women. The subjects were drawn from Chicago and San Francisco chapters of first-generation gay organizations such as the Daughters of Bilitis and Mattachine Society, as well as One magazine and the Society for Individual Rights. This study revealed that 7% of gay men had actually made a suicide attempt, as opposed to none of their heterosexual counterparts.

Interestingly, the Saghir-Robins study showed that the gay men had primarily made their suicide attempts before the age of 20.

At the time I Thought People Like That Killed Themselves was published, a 1977 study known as The Gay Report was the most comprehensive study ever undertaken of lesbian and gay suicide. The researchers, Jay & Young, studied more than 5,000 lesbians and gay men between the ages of 14 to 80. The respondents lived in every state of the Union as well as every province of Canada. The sample group, according to Rofes, was flawed by being composed almost entirely of white respondents. Only 1% of lesbians, and 2% of gay men, were African-American. Fewer than 1% were Asian-American or Native American, and only 1.6% of lesbians and 1% of gay men were Hispanic. In all, 4,400 gay men and 1,000 lesbians participated.

Of these, 40% of the gay men and 39% of the lesbians stated that they had "seriously contemplated or attempted" suicide; 53% of these gay men, and 33% of these lesbians, stated that their gayness was a "motivating factor" in their suicidal feelings. Rofes reports some verbatim responses to the Jay & Young questionnaire that shed light on some of the gay men's experiences:

"I have lived in total fear of my company, friends or family learning of my homosexuality. I have lived with complete guilt related to my actions. In late 1973 I attempted suicide by drowning. I did not have the courage to keep my head below water. ... I later spent eight months in a psychiatric institution."

Another respondent stated: "I shall indeed resort to suicide as soon as my father dies. (To do so while he is alive would be to saddle him with great sorrow.) I think any gay over the age of 45 or 50 should kill himself, as he has almost no chance of sex, aside from buying it from male prostitutes."

Jay & Young concluded their report by stating that "there is no doubt that suicide and attempted suicide (among gays and lesbians) are frequent responses of gay people to the difficulties of the gay experience in a hostile society. It has been suggested that psychiatrists, clergy, and others who insist on characterizing gays as sick and sinful are responsible for driving many gay people to suicide."

There are no known studies conducted more recently addressing the phenomenon of adult gay and lesbian suicide. As society's acceptance of homosexuality has grown and healthier role models emerge for gays and lesbians, suicide may decrease. Of course, this assumes amelioration only of social and environmental variables and cannot take into account each gay man or lesbian's personal struggles around depression, substance abuse, or other factors shown to have links to suicidal ideation and behavior.

Next week: Part Four: A Brighter Future.

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