The Trevor Project @ Roscoe’s Tonight

Today’s post, by The Marin Foundation’s Administrator Melinda Guerra, is on why events like tonight’s are so important.   Please join us for this evening’s  Living in the Tension…. details below.

One afternoon a few years ago, I lightheartedly composed a grateful text to my best friend, thanking him for matching me in mind and wit, for meeting me with enthusiasm and depth, for actually being interested in the variety of personality tests over which I geek out, and for creating with me the friendship which was at the top of my reasons I had, in  terribly dark, then-recent months, told myself I couldn’t actually let suicide be a valid option.  It’s not the kind of text one expects to get, but after a series of especially awful months,  I was grateful it was one I could give.

I’ve been in places where suicide sat at the table with other options, and I struggle for words to convey the shape of the sharp-clawed monster to someone who’s never seen it. Unfortunately, too many know it first-hand because they’ve felt it clawing at them, or seen what it did to someone they loved.

The statistics*, frankly, are terrifying:

• Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death among young people ages 10 to 24.
• Lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth are 4 times more likely to attempt suicide than their straight peers.
• Nearly half of young transgender people have seriously thought about taking their lives and one quarter report having made a suicide attempt.

For tonight’s Living in the Tension, we’ve brought The Trevor Project to Chicago for a special (and FREE) presentation on the role faith communities can play in saving lives.  Join us at Roscoe’s (3356 N Halsted St, Chicago) at 7pm. For more information see our Facebook event page.