LGBT deaths raise tough issues

Fourth-year world arts and culture student Kian Boolori returned from the funeral of one of his friends Thursday, only to find out a few hours later that another friend of his had died that evening.

“My initial reaction when I heard about Mandy was complete shock and trying to simply comprehend what was going on,” Boolori said. “I felt compounded by the fact that it was so recent of Steven passing away.”

Steven Thang Quoc Le, 22, and Amanda Hafleigh, 19, both died within a week of each other. Boolori knew the two because they were all involved in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community on campus.

Le, the 2003 - 2004 president of the Vietnamese Student Union, died at his home in Orange County Nov. 11, and Hafleigh, a second-year American literature student, was found dead in her Dykstra third floor dorm room Nov. 18.

The deaths of Le and Hafleigh, both of whom were homosexuals, have landed difficulty on the LGBT campus community.

Hafleigh’s death, an apparent suicide, has also raised questions about the high suicide rate among homosexual youths.

Homosexuals account for 30 percent of all suicides among youths aged 15 to 24, and homosexuals are two to three times more likely than their peers to take their own lives. (source)