Along with many others who have been working to reduce suicide among Utah’s LGBTQ+ population over the years, I welcome the news of the Utah Suicide Prevention Coalition’s new plan and look forward to supporting their efforts. Utah’s consistently high national suicide ranking is an indication that this continuing tragedy has not been taken seriously enough by government and religious leaders.
I call attention to the work in Utah over the past several decades of Caitlin Ryan of the Family Acceptance Project. Ryan’s powerful pioneering research and practical guides to parents, teachers and religious leaders of gay, lesbian and transgender youth is recognized throughout the nation and in many foreign countries as one of the most effective programs for countering suicide.
Awarded “Best Practices for Suicide Prevention” by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, Ryan’s and my “Supportive Families, Healthy Children: Helping Latter-day Saint Families with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Children” is used by parents, counselors, religious leaders and others in Utah to address this critical issue. Ryan’s groundbreaking research shows that the simple act of recognizing, listening to and accepting LGBTQ+ young people dramatically reduces suicide and suicide ideation. Those are steps everyone can and should take.
Robert A. Rees, Ph.D.
Visiting professor and director of Mormon studies at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, Calif.