Hi!
This is National Suicide Prevention Week, and this is a Hop of authors who care about the staggering statistics on suicide — especially among young people. Suicide is the number two cause of death among young people 10 to 24. In LGBTQ youth, the numbers are shocking. In San Francisco, one in every three lesbian, gay, or bisexual kids attempts suicide. Among transgender youth, the number is one in two! Thirty percent of completed suicides are among LGBTQ kids.
This is, of course, NOT because it’s awful to be gay, bisexual, or transgender. It’s because society treats LGBTQ kids awfully. Nine out of 10 LGBTQ kids report having been bullied in the last year and half of those have been physically harassed or even assaulted. LGBTQ teens are five times more likely to miss school due to fear and 28% will drop out due to harassment. Of the 2-3 million homeless kids on the streets each year, an estimated 20-40% of them are gay or transgender. Of these, 62% have faced discrimination from their own families.
So, what are a bunch of romance authors doing about this problem? For one thing, making
others aware of it. But maybe even more, every time we sit down at the computer we’re showing all kids, gay and straight, that things really do get better. After all, we’re the people who create happily ever afters. I think our books teach awareness, tolerance, acceptance, and love. I hope that a woman who reads my books will smile faster and brighter on that day that her son or daughter says, “Mom, i’m gay.” I hope she sees in my pages a brighter future for her child. And since family acceptance is the number one indicator of a gay child’s future happiness and success, that contribution is one i’m proud of.
If you enter on the Rafflecopter, you can win:
- A $50 Grand Prize
Here on my blog, if you leave a comment, you can win:
- A $10 GC
- Your choice of any of my LGBTQ books — in other words, all of them but one!
Chances are, every one of us has known someone who contemplated suicide. I know i have. I never knew my mother’s father because he committed suicide. What a loss! I’ve seen people i love lying in bed not caring if they lived or died.
This Hop is part of a nationwide campaign to prevent suicide. To connect with some others, here’s a Facebook link to a general information group.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/National-Suicide-Prevention-Week-2013/448377988559076?ref=br_tf
To win the grand prize, please enter on the Rafflecopter, and to win my prizes, leave a comment below.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
And here are the Hop participants! Join the awareness. Happy hopping! ‘);
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