Queensland fails gay teens

From the Brisbane Times:

A DISTURBING number of young Queenslanders have attempted suicide after being bullied about their sexual orientation, a new report shows.

The Open Doors Action Research Report, to be published on Friday, says 37 per cent of lesbian, gay or bisexual survey respondents attempted suicide in the past year.

Of the 164 respondents from across the state, 82 per cent had considered suicide in the past 12 months and 59 per cent had harmed themselves.

Open Doors is a Brisbane-based support service for lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender people aged 12 to 18 and their families.

When I saw this, I happened to remember this post that I wrote back in 2006. I quoted the following from the article it referred to:

A STATE school assignment that asked 13-year-olds to write about life in a gay community has been attacked by Education Minister Julie Bishop as an example of "a politically correct agenda masquerading as curriculum".

Queensland Premier Peter Beattie also criticised the school project, saying it was inappropriate and not part of the state curriculum.

Year Nine students at Windaroo Valley State High School in Brisbane were asked to write an assignment on living as a heterosexual in a mostly homosexual colony on the moon.

However, the school withdrew the assignment when a mother said her daughter would refuse to write it because it conflicted with her religious beliefs.

Mr Beattie said: "I don't think it's appropriate for a 13-year-old to be doing an assignment like this and I think the authority should withdraw it."

Julie Bishop and Peter Beattie, and anyone who agrees with their stance on this issue, hold a portion of personal responsibility for the suicide or self-harm of every teenager who is bullied for being gay. Peter Beattie and Julie Bishop obviously thought it was more important to prevent teenagers from being encouraged to develop empathy and understanding of their gay peers than to prevent suicide and depression in gay teens. Whether they adopted that stance for pure political expediency or based on their own personal beliefs, it's pretty fucked up.