According to the Vermont Department of Health 2009 Youth Risk Behavior survey, 24 percent of those surveyed who identified as gay and 21 percent of those who identified as bisexual attempted suicide. These figures are based on hospitalization following an attempted suicide.
According to Erika M. Edwards, M.P.H., at the Division of Health Surveillance for the Vermont Department of Health, in Windham County, out of 1,516 students surveyed, 23 percent of those who identified as LBGTQ attempted to commit suicide compared with 3 percent of those who identified as heterosexual, at least once in the previous 12 months. A larger number - 34 percent - of LGBTQ-identified students had a plan for suicide, compared to 7 percent of heterosexuals.
Edwards noted:
• 30 percent of Windham County students who identified as LGBTQ reported being bullied at least once in the past 30 days, compared to 14 percent of Windham County students who identified as heterosexual;
• 39 percent of Windham County students who identified as LGBTQ reported being bullied electronically (such as through e-mail, chat rooms, instant messaging, websites, or text messaging), compared to 14 percent of Windham County students who identified as heterosexual; and
• 14 percent of Windham County students who identified as LGBTQ did not go to school at least once in the past 30 days because they felt unsafe at school or on their way to or from school.
Chris Kibbe, Windham Northeast Supervisory Union assistant superintendent, pointed out that Vermont law addresses bullying and harassment separately. “But fortunately, we are way ahead of the rest of the nation and have laws in place to keep our schools safe for several years.”
Vermont state law defines bullying as any overt act or combination of acts directed against a student by another student or groups of students and which:
• is repeated over time;
• is intended to ridicule, humiliate, or intimidate the student; and
• occurs during the school day on school property, on a school bus, or at a school-sponsored activity, or before or after the school day on a school bus or at a school-sponsored activity.
Harassment is defined more complexly under state law as an “incident or incidents of verbal, written, visual, or physical conduct based on or motivated by a student's or a student's family member's actual or perceived race, creed, color, national origin, gender identity, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, or disability,” which, intentionally or not, undermine and detract from or interfere with “a student's educational performance or access to school resources or creat[e] an objectively intimidating, hostile, or offensive environment.”
The changes to the state law followed the suicide of 13-year-old Ryan Halligan, of Essex Junction, who killed himself after years of bullying at school and via the Internet.
“We have no doubt that bullying and cyber bullying were significant environmental factors that triggered Ryan's depression,” Ryan's parents, John and Kelly Halligan, wrote on a website (www.ryanpatrickhalligan.com) devoted to their son's memory and issues of bullying and depression in youth.
“In the final analysis, we feel strongly that Ryan's middle school was a toxic environment, like so many other middle schools across the country for so many young people,” they wrote.
John Halligan spearheaded the drive to enact the Vermont Bully Prevention bill in 2004. He then worked to change state law to require adding teaching about depression and suicide to the curriculum required in public-school health classes, a change passed into law in 2006.
A new Vermont hotline has been established for LGBTQ youth and adults who are suicidal, 866-4UTREVOR. Dialing 211 connects any caller in Vermont with a local mental health professional; as does 800-273-TALK. Kids who are homeless can also call Youth Services at 802-257-0361.
Any student experiencing bullying or harassment should contact a school administrator, counselor or trusted adult immediately.