High suicide risk, specifically among young Black gay, bisexual and other sexual minority men, may be associated with structural racism and anti-LGBTQ policies, according to a new Rutgers study. The study, published in the Journal of Research on Adolescence special issue “Black Lives Matter!: Systems of Oppression Affecting Black Youth Special Series: Dismantling Racism and Systems of Oppression,” examined how structural oppression and anti-LGBTQ policies in individual U.S. states intersect and can predict suicide risk.
“Our research suggests that structural oppression is a matter of life and death for young Black sexual minority men,” says lead researcher Devin English, assistant professor at the Rutgers School of Public Health. “The data indicates that racist and anti-LGBTQ U.S. state policies, like those that discriminate against Black and LGBTQ communities in housing, incarceration and economic opportunity, are linked to higher risk for suicide for these young men.” To read the full story.