Suicide is an LGBTQ Issue
thegavoice.comIt’s National Suicide Prevention Week — an annual week-long campaign to inform and engage health professionals and the general public about suicide prevention and warning signs of suicide.
One of the biggest risks of suicide is being LGBTQ. If someone is also a member of another marginalized group — a person of color, disabled — it can put them at even greater risk.
We don’t talk about suicide enough in the U.S. Yet suicide is on the rise. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), suicide deaths have been rising in recent years, up from 48,183 deaths in 2021 to an estimated 49,449 deaths in 2022.
For every completed suicide, there are at least 10 attempted suicides, making it a national crisis. On Aug. 10, when the CDC released the latest statistics on suicide deaths in a new report, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement, “Nine in ten Americans believe America is facing a mental health crisis.
