ABSTRACT
It has become common knowledge that LGBTQ youth are at a higher risk of suicide. Statistics about suicide risk circulate widely and they are important tools that activists and scholars use in LGBTQ youth advocacy. However, this chapter argues that portrayals of LGBTQ youth as perpetually wounded can have detrimental and counterproductive effects, yet the answer is not to deny these issues. After summarizing the history of how LGBTQ youth suicide came to be known as a social problem, and examining a range of responses to this problem, Waidzunas explores ways that some activists and scholars tell a more complicated story and calls for a continuation of these efforts. Telling a fuller story beyond wounded truths is imperative for fostering a world that broadens our imagination about what is possible for ourselves and the future, without denying realities of suffering.
