Task Force on Gay Youth Suicide

The National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention is creating a new task force to handle suicide prevention efforts among LGBT youths, the group announced Thursday.

Leaders of the task force will be Kevin Jennings, who heads the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Safe and Drug-Free Schools, and Charles Robbins, executive director of the Trevor Project. "This task force will bring together the best minds in the country to combat suicide and make sure that every LGBT youth has the opportunity to grow up in a supportive, accepting community and to enter adulthood safely," Robbins said in a press release.

The suicides of several LGBT young people made news in 2010. Studies indicate that lesbian, gay, and bisexual youths are anywhere from 1.5 to seven times more likely to attempt suicide than their straight peers, and transgender youths are believed to have higher rates of suicidal behavior as well, the alliance reports.

The alliance also created task forces to address suicide prevention in two other high-risk populations: American Indians and Alaska Natives, and military service members and veterans.