# Your teenager committed suicide? It's your fault. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 11, 2010, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-teenager-committed-suicide-its-your-fault/524446 "2010-01-11T00:17:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-teenager-committed-suicide-its-your-fault/524446/41 "2010-01-12T00:27:18Z")
> [@KarlGauss](#): > > Now _there’s_ a sig line! He’s a dick, to be sure. But in this case he’s right. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-teenager-committed-suicide-its-your-fault/524446/42 "2010-01-12T03:20:06Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > [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.](http://gaylife.about.com/od/gayteens/a/gaysuicide.htm) I don’t think it’s his contention that gay teens are at a higher risk of suicide that people are taking issue with. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-teenager-committed-suicide-its-your-fault/524446/43 "2010-01-12T03:24:51Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I don’t think it’s his contention that gay teens are at a higher risk of suicide that people are taking issue with. How can you tell? This thread is awash in retardation. My point, sorry if I was too cryptic, is that the majority of teen suicides are the parents’ fault. If your kid commits suicide because he/she is gay, that is your fault. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-teenager-committed-suicide-its-your-fault/524446/44 "2010-01-12T05:46:41Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > [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.](http://gaylife.about.com/od/gayteens/a/gaysuicide.htm) [QUOTE=Miller] I don’t think it’s his contention that gay teens are at a higher risk of suicide that people are taking issue with. [/QUOTE] That wasn’t even his contention. [QUOTE=Condescending Robot] Yeah, I would say something in the neighborhood of 100% of suicides by teenagers are due to either family rejection for sexual or religious identity issues, or parents too stupid/religious to recognize and get treatment for the symptoms of depression. [/QUOTE] Depending on his definition of “in the neighborhood”, the plain meaning of his words is that **virtually every teen suicide is caused by rejection of the kids’ religious choices or sexual preferences**. Maybe he doesn’t believe in mental illness or something. [QUOTE=lissener] My point, sorry if I was too cryptic, is that the majority of teen suicides are the parents’ fault. If your kid commits suicide because he/she is gay, that is your fault. [/QUOTE] Please tell me this was sarcasm or something. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-teenager-committed-suicide-its-your-fault/524446/45 "2010-01-12T06:29:43Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Depending on his definition of “in the neighborhood”, the plain meaning of his words is that **virtually every teen suicide is caused by rejection of the kids’ religious choices or sexual preferences**. > > Maybe he doesn’t believe in mental illness or something. You might want check that quote again. He gives _three_ reasons for teenage suicide. And the third one is mental illness. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-teenager-committed-suicide-its-your-fault/524446/46 "2010-01-12T07:41:35Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > You might want check that quote again. He gives _three_ reasons for teenage suicide. And the third one is mental illness. umm… > [@Condescending Robot](#): > > Yeah, I would say something in the neighborhood of 100% of suicides by teenagers are due to either family rejection for sexual or religious identity issues, or parents too stupid/religious to recognize and get treatment for the symptoms of depression. He gives two: Family rejection and stupid parents. Mental illness isn’t in that quote. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-teenager-committed-suicide-its-your-fault/524446/47 "2010-01-12T07:46:03Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > umm… > He gives two: Family rejection and stupid parents. Mental illness isn’t in that quote. Is depression not a mental illness? ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-teenager-committed-suicide-its-your-fault/524446/48 "2010-01-12T07:57:28Z")
[quote=“1920s Style “Death Ray”, post:47, topic:524446”] Is depression not a mental illness? [/QUOTE] He didn’t blame suicide on mental illness. He blamed it on parents failing to recognize mental illness. Twat. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-teenager-committed-suicide-its-your-fault/524446/49 "2010-01-12T09:05:32Z")
> [@Mosier](#): > > He didn’t blame suicide on mental illness. He blamed it on parents failing to recognize mental illness. > > Twat. 🙂 Mofo. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-teenager-committed-suicide-its-your-fault/524446/50 "2010-01-12T10:27:17Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Please tell me this was sarcasm or something. Not at all. I have worked as a volunteer with gay youth. Kicked out of their homes by their parents as young as 13. Into the street, at 13, because they were gay. Do you think teens whose parents support them when they come out of the closet tend to commit suicide? The kids whose parents support them don’t need volunteers. All of the teen suicides that I knew, anecdotally, when working as a volunteer, had been kicked out into the street by their parents. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-teenager-committed-suicide-its-your-fault/524446/51 "2010-01-12T14:30:33Z")
Obviously if you kick your kid out of the house because he’s gay and he commits suicide, it’s your fault. However, I highly doubt that all or even most of the kids whose parents aren’t supportive off themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-teenager-committed-suicide-its-your-fault/524446/52 "2010-01-12T16:54:54Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Obviously if you kick your kid out of the house because he’s gay and he commits suicide, it’s your fault. However, I highly doubt that all or even most of the kids whose parents aren’t supportive off themselves. OKay, what proportion of teenagers with unsupportive parents committing suicide is acceptab le, in your mind? That’s not a wise-ass question. Teeange suicide is a significan problem – and gay teen suicide is way out of proportion to their populyion share. (Somewhere aroung 35% of teenage suicides are gay – I won’t hazard a guess as to the percentage of teenagers overall who are gay, but it’s nowhere near that, by nearly an order of magnitude.) This is the point that **Robot** tried to make - parents who fail to grasp and deal with real problems encountered by teens, including but not limited to dealing with being gay, are arguably legally and morally at fault w/r/t their children’s suicides. ---
**Author:** ![tacoloco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tacoloco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tacoloco)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-teenager-committed-suicide-its-your-fault/524446/53 "2010-01-12T17:14:46Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > This is the point that **Robot** tried to make - parents who fail to grasp and deal with real problems encountered by teens, including but not limited to dealing with being gay, are arguably legally and morally at fault w/r/t their children’s suicides. Wasn’t Robot’s point that it is the parent’s fault 100% of the time? Parents are imperfect and despite their best efforts, we don’t always pick up on all the things going on with our kids. Especially during those teen years when they start to rebel and try to find their own identity. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2010, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-teenager-committed-suicide-its-your-fault/524446/54 "2010-01-12T18:07:43Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Teeange suicide is a significan problem – and gay teen suicide is way out of proportion to their populyion share. (Somewhere aroung 35% of teenage suicides are gay – I won’t hazard a guess as to the percentage of teenagers overall who are gay, but it’s nowhere near that, by nearly an order of magnitude.) This is the point that **Robot** tried to make - parents who fail to grasp and deal with real problems encountered by teens, including but not limited to dealing with being gay, are arguably legally and morally at fault w/r/t their children’s suicides. It doesn’t matter what point he was trying to make; the point he actually made is completely different. Personally, I don’t feel any number of teen suicides due to unsupportive parents is acceptable. However, the fact remains that a significant minority of the population is homophobic, and a larger portion is unwilling to accept homosexual children. Those people are not going to disappear or be redeemed overnight; that’s just the way it is. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-teenager-committed-suicide-its-your-fault/524446.md?page=2)