-HEALTH-

Young and gay: a dangerous business

A study of teenagers in Australia has revealed that young gay men are 10 times more likely to have a sexually transmitted infection (STI) than their straight peers and four times more likely to inject drugs.

Study author Professor Doreen Rosenthal also said the study had confirmed that they were more likely to commit suicide. In a previous study of homeless youth in Melbourne, she found that many defined themselves as gay, and that no fewer than one in nine of them had attempted suicide in the previous three months.

And in a corrective to the idea that lesbians are less vulnerable to poor sexual health, she said that young girls defining themselves as lesbian or bisexual were four times more likely to have an STI than straight peers and three times more likely to inject drugs.

She commented: "In spite of a generally more positive, less punitive attitude in our society toward openly gay, lesbian and bisexual young people, for some coming out to family and friends is a time fraught with anxiety and distress."

She added that while many young people were engaging in safer sex, only 60 per cent of young men indicated they always used condoms. One-third of 15-year-old boys reported three or more partners over the last year.

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