[deethythitoth]

I'm assuming in one of Ben's 3 posts he tried to contradict the obvious claim that religious oppression is a major factor in gay teen suicides.

I would bother posting a hypothetical response, but I don't need to. One of my friends (more like a good acquaintance, we'd met a handful of times and went to a couple bars together) back from 2000 when I was just coming out subsequently killed himself when he came out to his (Catholic) parents and they kicked him out of the house and refused to speak with him.

A few months ago, a former classmate of my SO's who was gay killed himself and in his note he told his very Christian parents that he was sorry he could never be what they wanted of him. He wasn't out to them, but his friends knew. We knew what he meant. He had just graduated from Waterloo with a computer science degree.

But I'm sure Ben is right. Religion has nothing to do with gay teen suicide.