Suicide Prevention and LGBTQ+ Rights Are Intrinsically Linked
By Zoe Schulz, myGwork
This month we marked Suicide Prevention Day amidst a political and social backdrop that has been challenging, to say the least. This year we have faced a global pandemic, seen trans rights come under threat yet again and witnessed racial violence continue against Black lives. Amid a sea of political movements for basic human rights, we’re also trying to keep our mental health afloat, a feat of equal importance. For marginalised people, battling mental health is all too common, with LGBTQ+ people disproportionately affected by both mental ill-health and suicide. Right now, suicide is the leading cause of death among young people aged 10 to 24, a heartbreaking statistic that should give us no choice but to create change. For queer youth, this is amplified even further, with LGB youth seriously contemplating suicide almost three times the rate of their heterosexual counterparts and being five times more likely to have attempted suicide. On top of this, each time an LGBT person is the victim of LGBT-phobic hate, such as physical violence or verbal harassment, they become 2.5 times more likely to self-harm. These statistics are a harrowing reminder of what many LGBTQ+ people are already aware of; homophobia, biphobia and transphobia are lethal, and a part of suicide prevention has to be creating a society where LGBTQ+ people can live freely as themselves, without fear of violence or persecution.
Although suicide is at times hidden under a cloud of taboo, it has also been recorded as far back as history goes, often an unmentionable but ever-present act. Throughout time suicide has played roles in both history and mythology, with Ajax the Great killing himself in the Trojan War, and Lucretia whose suicide in 510 BC was the spark that ignited the revolution that displaced the Roman Kingdom with the Roman Republic. It may seem as though it has always been stigmatised and frowned upon, however, both the Roman and Greek pagan societies had rather relaxed attitudes towards suicide. At this point in time very few laws existed condemning suicide, with the Romans only disapproving of three scenarios in which it would happen; the suicide of a soldier, slave or criminal. Essentially, they disapproved of the uneconomical consequences that these deaths would lead to, otherwise, their attitude remained mostly nonchalant. The Romans even had a term for what we might now describe as a ‘patriotic suicide’, which had their full support and was taken to avoid dishonour. Within a philosophical sect of the Greeks lived the belief that with death came personal freedom, an escape from the atrocities of life. This led to the belief that suicide could be a decision guided by reason, which is thought to be the case for Cato the Younger who committed suicide following the fall of the Pompeian cause at the Battle of Thapsus. This may all seem in drastic contrast to many of the beliefs in civilisations that followed, but this was a change evoked by the Christian Church.
Throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance period, suicide morphed into a sin, punished by excommunication and eternal damnation. This led to many laws against the act, with the punishment for attempted suicide ranging from cruel to perverse, with countries like Britain instituting the death penalty for people attempting suicide, forfeiting their estates, and in some cases even desecrating the bodies of victims. These laws loom over today's society with suicide remaining unlawful in over 30 countries. Yet, even throughout the Middle Ages, there were loopholes and circumstances that were seen as exempt. A bizarre example of this was committing suicide through murder, which was the case when Christina Johansdotter famously decapitated a child in 1740 with the sole intention of being executed and reunited with her lover who had recently died; murdering a child may seem a counterintuitive way to avoid damnation, yet this was the escape clause she found to ending her own life.
Throughout history suicide has always had a political aspect; whether that was the Ancient Romans encouraging patriotic suicides, soldiers committing suicide to prevent themselves being captured or even suicide as a form of social protest. The American Civil War saw Slaves committing suicide as a final act of resistance, those working to abolish slavery would report on these suicides in the hope that this would convince others of the hypocrisy of the American Constitution. In June 1963, Thích Quang Duc, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk set himself on fire, burning himself to death at a busy intersection in Saigon. This extreme action was taken in order to fight against all forms of oppression and John F. Kennedy spoke of the photos of the event “No news picture in history has generated so much emotion around the world as that one.”
Today, in the modern world, suicide is viewed through a very different lens. No longer an act of sin, but one of deep sadness and something that we can all play a role in preventing. Conversations around both mental health and suicide have become interconnected; two sides of the same coin. These conversations have seen a shift from taboo, to necessary. Yet, suicide rates still soar high, with trans young people experiencing this at towering rates. Recent research showed that nine in ten trans young people have thought about committing suicide and that more than one in four has tried, with this statistic not including those that have tragically succeeded. However, as activist Munro Bergdorf can often be found saying, being trans is not the problem; transphobia is. These suicide rates are not a consequence of being trans, but a consequence of being trans in a transphobic society. If we are to truly advocate for suicide prevention, we must start by advocating for those in our community that are most vulnerable, with trans people at the centre of this.
The patriarchy also plays a major role in suicide rates. We now know that being able to openly communicate your emotions and asking for help when your struggling is vital in preventing suicide. However, these are also things our society actively teaches men not to do. Suicide remains the leading cause of death for men aged under 50 in the UK, a direct reflection of the damage gendered stereotypes continue to play, as explained by Colman O’Driscoll, former Director at Lifeline “We tell boys that 'boys don't cry’, we condition boys from a very young age to not express emotion, because to express emotion is to be 'weak'.” A reminder that feminism is not and has never been just for the benefit of women.
Suicide prevention starts with a conversation, with normalising mental health discussions and checking in on your friends and family. However, this is just a scratch on the surface of what is needed. Suicide prevention is more than asking someone if they are okay, it’s ensuring they have affordable access to the healthcare they need and enough money to feed and clothe themselves. It’s fighting for their human rights, breaking down gendered stereotypes and unwaveringly speaking up against violence and hate. Suicide prevention is in its very nature political because politics plays such a huge role in the quality of life each person is granted. So please do check in on your friends and family, but also remember your resolve to prevent suicide when you vote, in speaking up for vulnerable people, in your allyship to the LGBTQ+ community, in a pledge to anti-racism work and a commitment to creating a world where all marginalised people can flourish.
If you need support or someone to talk to, please reach out to Samaritans on 116 123
