Delia M. Rios

About the author: Delia M. Rios covers gender and sexuality issues for Newhouse News Service.

A study that found that gay teens are more likely than straight teens to commit suicide is flawed. The study did not establish standards for what constitutes homosexual behavior, what constitutes a suicide attempt, nor did it verify whether the teens' suicide attempts actually occurred. The fact that some gay teens are troubled should not overshadow the fact that the vast majority of teens—both gay and straight—do not kill themselves.

In a study published [in May 1998] in the journal Pediatrics and repeated in daily newspapers, gay teens were "more than three times as likely" to have reported a suicide attempt than heterosexual peers. But the study, as even its lead...