Dale Mills
The largest-ever survey of mental health among Australia's gays, bisexuals and lesbians, conducted by the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society at La Trobe University, found that nearly half of the 5500 people surveyed reported at least one sign of serious depression. Suicidal thoughts ran at 16% for gay men, compared to 10% for straight men.
Professor Anne Mitchell, a report author, told the March 31 Melbourne Age, "There is an enormous amount of anxiety for young people especially, but it was reassuring that older people grow out of these problems by finding safe and stable environments and good supportive groups around them".
Gay men and lesbians are regularly victims of verbal abuse. Sixty per cent of male and 56% of female respondents said they had experienced personal insults because of their sexuality. Nearly 70% of participants said they changed their behaviour to avoid such discrimination, and about 90% said they refrained from showing public affection to a same-sex partner. "This simple everyday pleasure, which is commonplace among heterosexuals, is clearly seldom safely experienced by same-sex couples", the study said.
Speaking to the March 31 Sydney Star Observer, Mitchell said governments and educators need to do more to stamp out anti-gay discrimination, which was undermining young gay and lesbian people's health. She said many of the health problems identified in the report were "things that appear to be the response to living in a hostile environment".
Private Lives: A report on the Health and Well Being of GLBTI Australians is available at <es_report.pdf>.
From Green Left Weekly, April 26, 2006.
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