LGBT adolescent & teen suicides a cause for concern

During the brou ha ha involving the new president of the previously constituted Guidance Counsellors Association of Jamaica or now known as JAGCE Jamaica Association of Guidance Counselling in Education it was revealed that a female student from a prominent Kingston all girls school had committed suicide the same week as the controversial statements made by the goodly president came through. Nadine Dixon had revealed that such an incident occurred when she granted an interview to anti gay President Helen Coley Nicholson of Lawyers’ Christian Fellowship fame and tried to reshape her original revelation of counsellors who are not engaging LGBT students. She never however said if it was because of such non engagement specific to that case was the reason as well for the student taking her own life.

also see: 

Ian Boyne: Gay-Friendly Counsellors For Students?

Truth or Not: Guidance counsellors not discriminatory

A reliable source upon seeing my previous post on the subject has revealed that the young lady was being seen by the school’s counsellor but was since referred to another professional eventually which did not seem to resolve the matter. The deceased had expressed her frustration to various outlets but to no avail and now she is dead. Two other matters have since surfaced one involving an adolescent female who has been struggling with family members for the past year or so. A near displacement outcome also sent her into depression for some time but thankfully her summer job affording her some income made possible her payment for private consultations with a psychologist. She had attempted suicide by pill overdose but her cousin who made a surprise visit found the bottles scattered on the ground and ran to her aid eventually taking her to the hospital. She survived.

She was continuously told she needed to change her ways (typical) by her father who was adamant he wanted no lesbian or nasty person (words to such effect) in his family as God burns them out. He also went as far as to threaten withdrawal of any financial support given she is also pursuing tertiary education via a popular university college. She is on her way back to some semblance of normalcy in her life and is being closely monitored and the requisite professional on the case as well. She has also since moved in with the supportive cousin who has played an important role in this case.

Male suicide attempt

A gay male adolescent aged nineteen took things into his own hands earlier this year; he took a social media announcement route prior to taking action via attempted poison and according to him pill overdose as well. Both apparently did not work but days before he had been expressing via a series of status messages of his displeasure with life and just wanting to end it all.

The typical response from friends list is he was talking nonsense and such and some tried to dissuade him from such thoughts or status messages. He has since deleted or at least made his profile inactive and has been assisted by persons who got in touch with two NGOs where the requisite referrals and professional interventions are now active I am reliably informed. Thankfully this one ended on the up and up. Pity the aforementioned young lady did not make it. There are other unconfirmed reports of such attempts successful and unsuccessful.

Gay male teen tried hanging

A fifteen year old male described as a ‘troubled teen’ who has had run-ins with the law and who also is struggling with sexual orientation/identity issues tried to hang himself in June 2015 at a place of safety/rehabilitation centre for boys in south central Jamaica. You will appreciate I cannot go into too much details or name such matters given we are talking about a minor and laws govern such reporting of such matters. The teen however tried to end his life according to my impeccable source by using his sheet on his bed to hang himself but failed in the attempt as the light fixture he tried to tie the end to broke free from the ceiling due to his weight.

Despite his more masculine demeanour which may have deflected some homophobic profiling he has been touted by other boys for being a battyman and a previous incident allegedly at another facility with another boy involved in some sexual activity has not helped any as the issue is spread as a rumour by other boys who were close to matter. Then there are other matters attending with family members who say they simply cannot manage him as his rebellious behaviour is too much for them.

I am concerned as there seems not to be any serious outlet or sustained intervention residing anywhere to address teen and adolescent suicides and attendant issues of identity, self esteem and so on. Despite the high social media visibility in recent years that certainly my generation and previous never had and faces now added to the LGBT struggle with private LGBTians also slowly coming out persons still seem not able to find solace or comfort in the knowledge that as we edge forward to a very slow and painstaking acceptance. Added to the pressures that said social media places on a desire to conform or ideals and goals that are unrealistic young persons find themselves placed in a spin to find themselves. The aspirational themed social media interventions and some workshop activities by some do not seem to be reaching the right people and this is not only a lower socio economic class matter as is the case in the more earthy and often violent homophobia; those efforts seem to be only reaching the already converted or persons lulled in a false sense of security until their own truths catches up with them then disaster.

In a previous post I had highlighted a young lesbian’s attempt to end her life and her subsequent recovery or the road to it; she is now doing very well and has since moved on while ever so slowly mending the family ties that were shattered and led to the attempt in the first place.

Peace & tolerance

H

New EU FRA report highlights crucial role public authorities for LGBT equality

In a new report launched in the European Parliament today, the EU’s Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) highlights that prevailing negative attitudes towards LGBT people endanger their fundamental rights and hamper efforts to counter discrimination and hate crime.

The report analyses the views and attitudes of the ‘duty bearers’ towards LGBT persons in the field of law enforcement, education and healthcare.

Some of the key findings that emerged that can be found in the ‘Professionally speaking: challenges to achieving equality for LGBT people’ report include:
All professional groups have low levels of awareness and knowledge about LGBT needs, while social attitudes are often hostile towards LGBT people. This affect the actions of public officials and professionals.

There is a need for professional training to help counter prejudice in healthcare. Healthcare services to trans people are spread unevenly across the EU and there is a need to strengthen capacity and awareness of healthcare providers.
There is a lack of objective information on sexual orientation and gender identity inschools, which can result in bullying, and force LGBT youths to hide their sexual orientation or gender identity. Member States should work with education authorities and schools to formulate targeted campaigns to help make schools a safer and friendlier place for LGBT people.

Law enforcement personnel often lacks awareness about the discrimination LGBT people face and have insufficient knowledge of their vulnerability to hate crimes.
EU law and policy are seen as major drivers supporting national efforts to promote LGBT equality.

Reacting to the report, LGBTI Intergroup Vice Chair Fabio Massimo Castaldo MEP, said: “Why do some doctors still believe homosexuality is a disease? Why are schools too often still unsafe places for LGBTI people?”

“This report analyses very thoroughly the difficulties LGBT people may face when it comes to access to basic institutions in everyday life: education, healthcare and police. We need to work much harder to ensure that the rights to education, to healthcare and fair treatment is equally enjoyed by all.”

Sirpa Pietikäinen MEP, also Vice-Chair of the Intergroup on LGBTI Rights, added: “The results of this report are a good reminder that despite improvements in the legal situation, we are not there. Prejudice, discrimination and violence still hold back LGBTI people from accessing school, hospitals and the police.”

“I call on the EU and its Member States to take this report to the heart, and use it systematically to act on their duty to deliver high quality service to end discrimination and hate crime many LGBT people have faced.”

Read more
Read the report ‘Professionally speaking: challenges to achieving equality for LGBT people’

Read earlier posts on the Fundamental Rights Agency

Combination Inhibitor BMS-986197 Demonstrates Good Anti-HIV Activity in Early Study

A long-acting bioengineered "combinectin" molecule with a triple mechanism of action demonstrated potent antiviral activity and worked against HIV that developed resistance to any of the 3 separate mechanisms in a laboratory study, and lowered viral load in humanized mice, according to research presented at theConference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI 2016)last month in Boston.

Modern antiretroviral therapy is highly safe and effective for most people with HIV, but there is still room for more convenient agents that could help improve adherence, as well as drugs for people with highly resistant virus.

BMS-986197 is an injectable biologic agent which investigators think could potentially be self-administered as a long-acting subcutaneous injection; combining different modes of action in a single agent could avoid the need for multiple injections.

Mark Krystal, formerly of Bristol-Myers Squibb and now at ViiV Healthcare, presented findings from early laboratory and animal studies of BMS-986197, which is part of the portfolio of Bristol-Myers Squibb's investigational HIV agents recently acquired by ViiV.

BMS-986197 is made up of adnectins, small proteins with modifiable binding loops resembling certain antibody regions. Researchers combined adnectins targeting the CD4 cell surface receptor and HIV's gp41 protein subunit, along with a peptide fusion inhibitor, to build a so-called combinectin inhibitor that uses independent mechanisms to interfere with 3 routes of HIV entry. Finally, this combinectin was attached to human serum albumin to improve its pharmacokinetics.

The anti-CD4 adnectin appears to allow HIV's gp120 envelope protein to bind to the receptor, but prevents conformational changes needed for binding to co-receptors (CCR5 or CXCR4). The second adnectin attacks the N17 sequence of the HIV gp41 envelope protein subunit. The fusion inhibitor component works similarly to enfuvirtide (T20 or Fuzeon).

The EC50, or 50% effective concentration, of the anti-CD4 adnectin, the anti-gp41 adnectin, and the fusion inhibitor peptide were 8.5, 5.4, and 0.4 nM (nanoMolar), respectively. Linking these 3 inhibitors into a single molecule led to synergistic effects greater than the sum of the parts. The optimal combination of the 2 adnectins increased potency by more than 100-fold, while adding the fusion inhibitor appeared to increase the barrier to resistance. The addition of human serum albumin decreased potency but made the combinectin last longer in the body.

In the laboratory BMS-986197 demonstrated antiviral activity against a wide range of clinical virus isolates of different subtypes obtained from people with HIV. It retained potency against viruses that were resistant to any 1 of the 3 separate entry inhibition mechanisms and it showed no loss of potency in human blood serum.

In bio-engineered mice with humanized immune systems BMS-986197 produced dose-dependent decreases in viral load, and at the highest dose most became undetectable. Cell receptors remained occupied and pharmacokinetics were consistent over 36 days. In cynomologous monkeys a subcutaneous injection had a half-life of 30 hours and the researchers projected a half-life in humans of about 40 hours -- potentially adequate for once-weekly dosing.

"BMS-986197 is a long-acting (projected weekly dose) biologic molecule containing 3 individual inhibitors of HIV-1 entry that can be dosed subcutaneously," the researchers concluded. "BMS-986197 is effective at lowering viral loads in a mouse model of infection."

3/14/16

Reference

M Krystal, DWensel, Y Sun, et al. HIV-1 Combinectin BMS-986197: A Long-Acting Inhibitor With Multiple Modes of Action. Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections. Boston, February 22-25, 2016. Abstract 97.