Life under the rainbow: Self-harm and suicidality among LGBT community in Bangladesh

Background. The LGBT communities in Bangladesh live in precarious conditions under the legal and social sections against them. This study was carried out in a context where data on suicidality among these sexual minority communities in Bangladesh exist little beyond anecdotal reports. Methods. A countrywide cross-sectional survey was carried out to collect data from LGBT (n = 297) and cisgender (n = 86) participants. Snowball sampling was used for generally secretive LGBT participants. Results. Findings indicated significantly higher prevalences of self-harm (direct and indirect), death wish, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempt among the LGBT communities compared to the cisgender population. The lesbians reported the highest lifetime prevalence for indirect self-harm (62%), direct self-harm (56%), death wish (74%) and suicidal ideation (53%). Reported suicide attempts were most common among gays (41%) closely followed by lesbians (38%) and transgenders (36%). When compared with the cisgender population, the odds of these experiences ranged from 3.97 to 13.17 for lesbians, 2.34 to 9.26 for gays, 1.37 to 2.91 for bisexuals, and 2.21 to 13.41 for transgenders. Conclusion. The findings bring forth a dire picture of the high risk of suicidality among the hidden sexual minority communities in Bangladesh and are expected to contribute to evidence-informed policymaking.