Another Gay Teen Suicide: Teen In Oklahoma Takes His Own Life

According to the Dallas Voice, 19-year-old Zach Harrington "endured years of struggles due to his sexual orientation in high school" and took his life a week after he attended a "hate-filled recent City Council meeting" in his conservative small town of Norman, Oklahoma.

This is not a new problem but the volume of gay teen suicides in recent weeks continues to be disturbing. Damon L. Jacobs has written an interesting piece I recommend everyone checking out, "The 'Shoulds' Killing Gay Youth," at Shouldless.com.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth are up to four times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers, according to the Massachusetts 2006 Youth Risk Survey. A 2009 study, "Family Rejection as a Predictor of Negative Health Outcomes" led by Dr. Caitlin Ryan and conducted as part of the Family Acceptance Project at San Francisco State University, shows that adolescence who were rejected by their families for being LGBT were 8.4 times more likely to report having attempted suicide. And for every completed suicide by a young person, it is estimated that 100 to 200 attempts are made (2003 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey).

ONE LIFE TO LIVE's Shenell Edmonds spoke out on the topic on a recent episode of WE LOVE SOAPS TV. Watch what she had to say below.