The following statistics are based on a range of social research conducted at Australian universities. It paints a picture of difficulty and marginalisation for same sex attracted youth - all the more reason to adopt and promote tolerant attitude in schools,homes and workplaces.
Discrimination & prejudice [1]
- 29% of same sex attracted youth in a 1997 survey said they had been discriminated against on the grounds of their sexuality
- 46% had been verbally abused
- 13% had been physically abused
- 70% of this abuse had taken place in schools
Homelessness [2]
- On any given night there are approximately 19 000 young homeless people in Australia. It is estimated that between 5 000 and 6 250 of these are same sex attracted
- Homelessness was due to a range of factors, including family conflict over sexuality-related issues
Suicide [3]
- Suicide currently accounts for 25% of deaths amongst people aged 12-24
- Young gay men are two to three times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual counterparts [4]
- Suicide attempts among same sex attracted young people are more likely to happen after they self identify as gay, but before they disclose this identity to anyone
HIV/AIDS [5]
- Of all infections is Australia to 31 March 1999, over 80% have been amongst gay and homosexually active men
- 37.7 % of these infections have been amongst people aged 13-29
- 2.5% have been amongst people aged 13-19
Safe sex
- “Community-attached” young gay men show a high level of acceptance of condom use, and high levels of avoidance of unsafe sex [6]
- These same young men, however, show a decline in accuracy of knowledge about HIV and STDs, relative to 1992, and a decline in testing rates
- This reflects the lack of a youth-focussed campaign since 1992, and the continuing entry of young men into a “safe sex culture”
- Amongst a sample of 370 same-sex attracted young men of varying degrees of “community attachment”, only 50% reported consistent condom use [7]
- The majority of participants in this survey said they had received little or no information about relationships and safe sex issues for homosexually attracted youth
References
- [1] ibid
- [2] “As Long As I’ve Got My Doona” Irwin, Winter et al Australian centre for Lesbian and Gay Research, University of Sydney, 1995
- [3] “Are Gay Youth At Elevated Risk for Suicidal Behaviour?” Jonathan Nicholas (ReachOut!), John Howard (Macquarie University) 1997
- [4] “Sexuality and Suicide” Fordham, K. Faculty of Medicine, University of Tasmania 1998
- [5] NCHECR National Surveillance Report Jun 1998
- [6] Male Call 1996 - Crawford, Kippax et al, National Centre in HIV Social Research
- [7] “Writing Themselves In” Hillier et al NCHSR 1998