As I’ve watched the coverage of the mass shooting in Orlando, one story that has stayed on my mind is that of Eddie Justice, a 30-year-old man who texted his mother from the bathroom of Pulse.
This kind of parental behavior has dire consequences for the LGBTQ population as a whole. The Trevor Project reports that queer youth from highly rejecting families are 8.4 times more likely to report suicidal ideation than queer youth who reported little or none. Project Fierce Chicago reports that 20 percent of the city’s homeless youth identify as LGBTQ and often wind up in these situations because of parental rejection. These proportions multiply in size when race and gender identification are accounted for.
