Gay Republican blames high LGBT suicide rate on having too many sex partners
A gay Republican official in Utah has implied that LGBT+ people have a higher suicide rate because of the number of sexual partners they have.
Dave Robinson, Salt Lake County Republican Party’s new communications director, reportedly told The Salt Lake Tribune during a meeting with its editorial board he knew of LGBT+ people who had had “over 2,000 sex partners,” and said that this could lead to “some of the self-loathing to the point of suicide.”
When asked about the high LGBT+ suicide rates, Robinson told The Salt Lake Tribune : “I actually think it has more to do with the lifestyle that the gays are leading that they refuse to have any scrutiny with.
Robinson made the comments during a meeting with the editorial board of The Salt Lake Tribune. (Dave Robinson/Facebook)
“You talk to some of these people that have had grundles of sex partners and the self-loathing and basically the unhappiness and the self-hatred level is tremendously high. The gay community really needs to start having some conversations within their community, saying how is our lifestyle affecting our mental health.”
Despite his comments, Robinson said earlier in the interview: “I don’t think there’s a better time on this planet in history to be gay than right now.”
Research suggests that LGBT+ people have a significantly higher suicide rate than heterosexual people.
A 2016 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) young people are almost three times as likely to seriously contemplate suicide as their straight counterparts.
It also found that LGB youth were five times more likely to have attempted suicide than heterosexual young people.
Research has suggested that LGBT+ are far more likely to think about or attempt suicide than their straight counterparts. (Stock photo)
The 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey revealed that one in four trans adults had reported they had attempted suicide.
However, since The Salt Lake Tribune‘s article was published, Scott Miller, chair of the Salt Lake County Republican Party, released an open letter apologising over Robinson’s remarks.
“I apologize on behalf of the Salt Lake County Republican Party for any hurt or discomfort that this mischaracterization has caused,” his letter reads. “The tremendous outcry of both anger and support shows that these conversations are sorely needed.”
Miller adds: “All of the opinions forwarded by Mr. Robinson were based on those conversations and were not necessarily his own views and were not presented as the position of the Salt Lake County Republican Party.”
