Elisabeth Lowe, known as Lizzie, was found hanged in a city park. Despite desperate attempts by paramedics too reanimate the girl, it was too late, she was pronounced dead shortly after midnight. A post-mortem examination concluded she had no drugs or alcohol in her body at the time of her death. She also had no diagnosable mental health problems.
It was later
discovered that the teenager was experiencing serious stress as she was scared
of telling her parents about her sexuality and had struggled to reconcile her
feelings with the family’s strong Christian faith. Only Lizzie’s friends knew
about her depression as they had regularly talked to her, both in person and
over texts and Facebook messages, about self-harming and having suicidal
thoughts.
What is even
more sad is that her parents had no idea about the issues the girl was fighting
with. Asked how the family would have reacted if she had spoken to them about
her sexuality, Mr Lowe said: “It wouldn’t have come as much surprise. She was
very much a tomboy. In fact, she was more of a boy than some of the boys were,
so it would have been no surprise at all. We would have been very supportive.”
Researchers
have found that attempted suicide rates and suicidal ideation among lesbian,
gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQQ) youth is
comparatively higher than among the general population. LGBT teens and young
adults have one of the highest rates of suicide attempts.
what a waste
ReplyDelete