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Overt discrimination gradually fades away...

Jan Bridget   (31 October 2007)  Gay and Lesbian Youth in Calderdale

My comment is regarding the assertion that current anti-discrimination legislation in the UK will provide an environment where overt discrimination gradually fades away and that "As a result, we may have a chance to find out whether the apparent current high levels of mental health problems and suicide attempts will gradually decrease." Perhaps the law will, over time, stop overt discrimination but this won't change attitudes. I am curious to know when the participants of the various research projects attempted suicide; I suspect it was when they were first coming out. It seems to me that with greater visibility there has been an increase in levels of homophobic bullying in schools and, at the same time, young LGBT people are coming out at younger ages; this is resulting in greater vulnerability with more LGBT young people self-harming, attempting suicide and developing mental health problems such as phobias and anxieties. In which case, the current high levels of mental health problems and suicide attempts will not gradually decrease: unless something is done about homophobic bullying and there is more support available to young LGBT people.

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