An independent student newspaper serving Iowa State since 1890
Monday
09.24.2018 Vol. 219 No. 025
Students attend a ReACT gallery following the death of Celia Barquín Arozamena.
REACT
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‘WE’RE HERE TO LISTEN’ Lesbian, gay, bisexual communities 5 times more likely to attempt suicide BY LOGAN.METZGER @iowastatedaily.com Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people aged 10 to 24, but LGBTQIA+ youth are at an even higher risk, according to The Trevor Project. Research surrounding the larger LGBTQIA+ community is limited. Throughout the story, statistics used represent the LGB –– lesbian, gay and bisexual –– community, though other communities are also greatly impacted by these issues. The Trevor Project states LGB students contemplate suicide rates at almost three times the rate of heterosexual youth and are almost five times as likely to have attempted suicide. “I often think of [suicide] from the lens of a continuum, where A is ideation, B is contemplation, C is attempt and D is completion,” said Mark Rowe-Barth, director of Student Wellness. “Suicidality is individualized, its different for everyone. Sometimes it takes only a short time maybe straight from contemplation to completion.” Each instance of physical or verbal harassment or abuse increases the likelihood of self-harming by 2.5 times, according to The Trevor Project. Verbal abuse affects all age groups, not just young adults, and is even prevalent with children, as witnessed in
the Jamel Myles case. Jamel Myles was a 9-year-old boy from Colorado. Myles came out as gay to his mother while curled up in the backseat of the family car and she accepted him instantly, which, for many, is the dream coming-out story. Myles began wearing fake fingernails on Monday Aug. 20, the first day at school. “Pierce’s oldest daughter told her that other children had told Jamel to kill himself after he came out as gay,” according to reporting from the Denver Post. “She never heard about the taunting until after his death.” Leia Pierce, Jamel’s mother, found Jamel’s body on Thursday Aug. 23 and tried unsuccessfully to revive her son. Myles was rushed to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Bullying does kill, according to the Bullying Statistics website. “Bully victims are between 2 to 9 times more likely to consider suicide than non-victims,” according to the website. “A study in Britain found that at least half of suicides among young people are related to bullying.” A student at Iowa State came forward to talk about their experience with anxiety and depression and the help they found at Iowa State. They asked the Daily to not include their name since they have not come out about their sexuality.
LGB
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CAITLIN YAMADA/ IOWA STATE DAILY A student at Iowa State spoke about their experiences in the LGBTQIA+ community. They asked the Daily to not include their name since they have not come out about their sexuality.
City council to address homelessness, safety BY DEVYN.LEESON @iowastatedaily.com City Council will discuss and promote public safety at Tuesday’s meeting following the death of Celia Barquín Arozamena at an Ames golf course. Coldwater Golf Links, the site of Barquín Arozamena’s death, is situated next to the woods where Collin Daniel Richards, the man charged with first-degree murder, had been camping and living at the time. The city of Ames, city council and its mayor have been asked what policies could be enacted to prevent something like this from happening again. “In the aftermath of the tragic event that occurred this week, a number of questions have been raised about our current efforts to promote safety in our parks, natural areas and trails,” according to city council documents. “In addition, some have asked what changes are we prepared to make immediately to further promote safety in these areas as well as into the future.”
The documents from city council say they don’t currently have a written plan but, city council and its staff are ready to discuss and form ideas at the meeting. These comments are similar to a ones from a press release from the city of Ames which discussed collaborative efforts currently being made between the city and its community. “I encourage every resident to take an active role in improving safety by alerting officials to concerns and sharing information when something seems amiss,” said Mayor John Haila in the press release. One of the main questions received by the city of Ames has been in relation to homelessness according to the press release. More specifically, if action would be taken to ensure people don’t camp or live on public and private lands. The press release addressed this saying alleged camping areas are labeled “no camping” with signs and then visited by the city to ensure people are complying if evidence of camping is reported by the community or discovered by city staff. The city said it is looking for a more
GILLIAN HOLTE/ IOWA STATE DAILY Ames City Council will discuss homelessness and safety at their meeting on Tuesday following the death of Iowa State student Celia Barquín Arozamena.
proactive approach to address homelessness. “In the past, when we’ve identified people living on public property, we have worked with
the Emergency Residence Project and local
SAFETY
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