US: Group Advocates For LGBT Youth In Religious Homes

 It's being labeled an epidemic: alarmingly high suicide rates, homeless rates, and sex trafficking rates among LGBT youth, especially in religious homes. 

To try and change the trend, a group named Faith in America walked into the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention on Friday to share a message that LGBT youth are in danger. 

"400,000 kids are on the streets because they feel safer there than in their parent's home," Robert Hoffman, interim executive director and co-chair of Faith in America, said. 

According to statistics from Faith in America and the The Trevor Project, LGBT youth have been four times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual counterparts, and when they're in highly rejecting homes, including religious homes, they can be more than eight times as likely than other LGBT youth to attempt suicide. 

"We want to get the LGBT off the sin list," Stan Mitchell, senior pastor at GracePointe Church, said. "We believe it is harming human beings." 

The group had asked to take part in the conference, specifically in a breakout session regarding how to deal with homosexuality when it comes to religion, but they were turned down. That's when the group decided to make their voices heard, both with prayer and song by singing "Amazing Grace" inside of the Gaylord Opryland Hotel where the conference was taking place. 

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