California is set to become the first American state to collect data on LGBTQ+ citizens dying by suicide.
The move will be a historic one as it will also track cases of anti-transgender homicide, meaning California would be the first state to do so.
Gavin Newsom, the state’s governor, will receive Assembly Bill 1094 to sign it into law after it unanimously passed both houses of the state legislature earlier this year.
The Bill says it would create a pilot program to run in six of the state’s counties to train “coroners and medical examiners how to gather mortality data with regard to sexual orientation and gender identity”.
Those in favour of the legislation believe it will help authorities sensitively enquire about whether or not a victim was LGBTQ+ when talking to friends and family of the deceased.
According to America’s Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the second leading cause of death for those aged 10 to 24 is suicide.
Focusing solely on LGBTQ+ youth will enable data to become more reliable and reflective of the state of suicide in the country.
In May, a report by The Trevor Project concluded that 42% of those surveyed had toyed with the idea of suicide in the last year.
On 10 September, World Suicide Prevention Day took place to raise awareness about how we can reduce suicide rates across the world.
The LGBTQ+ community is hard hit by thoughts of suicide and, according to an independent study from Just Like Us, young people in the community are twice as likely to contemplate suicide than their non-LGBTQ+ peers.
The post California to officially track LGBTQ+ suicide through historic legislation appeared first on GAY TIMES.
0 Comments