Homosexual teens encounter dilemma of discrimination

A recent survey conducted by the Centre for Creative Initiatives in Health and Population on 520 homosexual, bisexual and transsexual people with an average age of 21 revealed that nearly 41 per cent had suffered from discrimination and violence at school or university.

Seventy per cent of them said they had been given offensive names, 38 per cent said they were treated unfairly, 19 per cent claimed to have been beaten and 18 per cent sexually harassed.

The reasons cited for ill treatment included the students dressing or behaving in a "different way" while seemingly having feelings for people of the same sex.

According to the survey, half of the students suffered from constant fear and nervousness and came to hate themselves for their different sexual tendencies, while 20 per cent lost the motivation to go to school and 36 per cent isolated themselves.

More seriously, 35 per cent of those claiming they had been ill-treated said they had considered committing suicides, half of them saying they had actually tried to take their own lives.

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