History Main / GayngstInducedSuicide

* Although it was [[IfItsYouItsOkay probably a one-time thing]], the threat that his wartime liaison with another man will be made public drives Brig Anderson to suicide in ''Advise and Consent''. The man with whom he had the liaison subsequently jumps off a bridge.
%%* Margaret in ''Affinity'' intends to take her life at the end of the story. The TV adaptation explicitly shows her jumping into the Thames. -- '''Administrivia/ZeroContextExample''' -- '''Is she a lesbian?'''
* Alexandre's suicide in ''Les amities particuliares'' (''Special Friendships'') (1943) after being cruelly separated from his boyfriend by hypocritically-moralizing priests.
* Subverted in Mary Renault's ''The Charioteer'' -- the main character believes Ralph is about to commit suicide but manages to interfere in time, resulting in a relatively happy ending. Considering the book was published in 1953, when homosexuality was still illegal in the UK, this came as a genuine surprise.

%%* In Fritz Peters's ''Finistere'', Michel drowns at the end, probably intending to die though this is only hinted at. When the book was published -- in the early '50s -- the tragic-conclusion trope was still ''de rigueur''. - '''Administrivia/ZeroContextExample''' -- '''Is Michel gay?'''

* Ashley's suicide over his homosexuality in ''Lord Dismiss Us'' (1967).
* 10-year-old Serge's suicide in ''Quand mourut Jonathan'' (''When Jonathan Died''). Serge's mother decides to keep him away from his adult lover, Jonathan. Serge runs away to go to Jonathan, but on the way realizes he'll never make it and jumps in front of a car.

* ''Film/OdeToBillyoe'': Many people remember the sixties hit song "Ode To Billy Joe," about a young man who kills himself by jumping off the Tallahatchie Bridge, for reasons unknown. What few people remember is that in 1976, Hollywood decided to make a movie of the song that would explain exactly why Billy Joe jumped. Turns out it was the {{gayngst}}.

* ''Ode to Billy Joe'': Many people remember the sixties hit song "Ode To Billy Joe," about a young man who kills himself by jumping off the Tallahatchie Bridge, for reasons unknown. What few people remember is that in 1976, Hollywood decided to make a movie of the song that would explain exactly why Billy Joe jumped. Turns out it was the {{gayngst}}.

* Subverted in ''Trevor'': 13-year-old Trevor attempts suicide over his homosexuality but recovers in hospital, where he meets a cute, friendly candy-striper, Jack, who offers him tickets to a Diana Ross concert. Trevor decides to live -- at least "until tomorrow" -- and dances up the path to his house.

* ''Series/FellowTravelers'': Gay people who are ForcedOutOfTheCloset by the Lavender Scare purges frequently kill themselves in the early 1950s. At the time, being outed generally meant social ruin. This is shown at the start of "Your Nuts Roasting On An Open Fire", in which it's mentioned how at least one suicide's occurring per week.

* ''Series/FellowTravelers'': Gay people who are ForcedOutOfTheCloset by the Lavender Scare purges frequently kill themselves in the early 1950s. At the time, being outed generally meant social ruin. This is shown at the start of the fourth episode, while it's mentioned that at least one suicide's occurring per week.

%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. Thanks!

'''Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease As a DeathTrope there will be [[Administrivia/HandlingSpoilers unmarked spoilers]].'''

* Attempted by a few different characters in the ''Literature/LastHeraldMageTrilogy''. Tylendel says that between difficulty with his TraumaticSuperpowerAwakening and the homophobia of the rest of his family he would have either been [[DisownedChild disowned and kicked out]] or killed himself without the support of his twin brother. After [[ClosetKey he]] dies, his boyfriend Vanyel tries repeatedly to kill himself, particularly after [[AMindIsATerribleThingToRead realizing]] that one of the people he's expected to trust absolutely is disgusted by him. Vanyel's aunt takes him to recuperate and be trained with the help of her friends, one of whom relates a backstory in which he and his lover were cast out and he [[AccidentalMurder accidentally killed his lover]] in an argument, then slit his wrists before Van's aunt found him and took him to a NonHeteronormativeSociety.

* Following the public humiliation of being revealed to be a transgender woman--including her boyfriend declaring "You make me ''sick''! You're a ''freak''!", ''Series/TheCity1995'''s Azure C. wanders the streets in a {{[=HeroicBSOD=]}} before ending up in a cheap motel room, preparing to blow her head off. Luckily, her boyfriend tracks her down and talks her out of it.

* Following the public humiliation of being revealed to be a transgender woman--including her boyfriend declaring "You make me ''sick''! You're a ''freak''!", ''Series/TheCity1995'''s Azure C. wanders the streets in a [=HeroicBSOD=] before ending up in cheap motel room, preparing to blow her head off. Luckily, her boyfriend tracks her down and talks her out of it.

[[folder:Comics]]

* The 1919 German film ''Anders als die Andern'' (''Different from the Others'') used this trope to deliberate effect. It was genuinely trying to educate the public about the senseless persecution of gays and included real-life sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld giving a lecture that homosexuality was completely natural. That said, the main character still gets thrown out of school, loses all of his clients, is blackmailed, and eventually commits suicide.

* Subverted with trans girl Hishida from ''Manga/GenkakuPicasso''. She is DrivenToSuicide after being caught in the girls' bathroom. The protagonist saves her and afterward she's shown going to school as a girl with relatively no issue.

* The short movie ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnOJgDW0gPI Heterophobia]]'' is about a BizarroUniverse in which homosexual relationships are the norm and heterosexuality is punished by society. The story is about a teenager who fell in love with a boy, but she's bullied because this goes against homosexuality and in the end she's DrivenToSuicide. Basically the story is an analogy of this trope but with an inverted PointOfView, reinforcing the toxicity of its causes.

* "Boy" Barrett's suicide in ''Film/{{Victim}}'' (1961). He dies to protect the man he loves: knowing he'll be questioned by police, he hangs himself in his prison cell to avoid revealing a distinguished lawyer's involvement with him.

* In the Japanese ''Anime/MyHime'' computer game, if you as the main character [[DatingSim choose to date]] Natsuki Kuga, [[SchoolgirlLesbians her best friend Shizuru Fujino]] is so hurt that she [[DrivenToSuicide kills herself]].

* [[spoiler:"Boy" Barrett's]] suicide in ''Film/{{Victim}}'' (1961). He dies to protect the man he loves: knowing he'll be questioned by police, he hangs himself in his prison cell to avoid revealing a distinguished lawyer's involvement with him.

* "Boy" Barrett's suicide in ''Film/{{Victim}}'' (1961). He dies to protect the man he loves: knowing he'll be questioned by police, he hangs himself in his prison cell to avoid revealing a distinguished lawyer's involvement with him.

The trope may be more common in older works, as a matter of ValuesDissonance or for an exception to the Hays Code allowing homosexuals to be shown in media, as long as they were miserable. However, it is still TruthInTelevision: LGBT individuals are still at higher risk for suicide, even in the Western world. To wit, some 40% of transgender people have attempted suicide, as have 19% of intersex people.

It is one way for a show to invoke BuryYourGays but may have worse implications by suggesting that not only must gay characters die but that it must be a stereotypically [[SuicideIsShameful dishonorable method in suicide]], and also that by choosing to kill themselves they are acknowledging how their existence is wrong.

This is a [[JustForFun/TelevisionIsTryingToKillUs highly dangerous trope]] as "the more frequently someone is exposed to suicide, the more at risk they themselves are[;] a community that has been bombarded with depictions of suicide should itself be more prone to it." Also, [[https://news.stanford.edu/2015/11/19/suicide-stereotype-germany-111915/ Stanford are researching the trope]].

It is one way for a show to invoke BuryYourGays, but may have worse implications by suggesting that not only must gay characters die but that it must be a stereotypically [[SuicideIsShameful dishonorable method in suicide]], and also that by choosing to kill themselves they are acknowledging how their existence is wrong.

* Subverted with trans girl Hishida from ''Manga/GenkakuPicasso''. She is DrivenToSuicide after being caught in the girl's bathroom. The protagonist saves her and afterward she's shown going to school as a girl with relatively no issue.

** Karen meets a trans woman named Elizabeth who had tried to kill herself in the past. It was a BungledSuicide. She's since gotten over her depression and learned not to let other peoples opinions bother her.

* The 1919 German film ''Anders als die Andern'' (''Different from the Others'') used this trope to deliberate effect. It was genuinely trying to educate the public about the senseless persecution of gays and included real life sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld giving a lecture that homosexuality was completely natural. That said, the main character still gets thrown out of school, loses all of his clients, is blackmailed and eventually commits suicide.

* This is what Aaron from ''Film/LatterDays'' tries to do. After being excommunicated from the [[UsefulNotes/{{Mormonism}} Mormon]] Church after he's caught kissing Christian, he found out that Christian getting close to him was nothing more than a 50-dollar bet he had with his co-workers. And then, when he told his mother he was gay, his mother slapped him and said that being gay was unforgivable. Aaron then decided to slit his wrist, but didn't die. Viewers and Christian, however, were made to believe he died for the sake of drama.

* ''Ode to Billy Joe'': Many people remember the sixties hit song "Ode To Billy Joe," about a young man who kills himself by jumping off the Tallahatchee Bridge, for reasons unknown. What few people remember is that in 1976, Hollywood decided to make a movie of the song that would explain exactly why Billy Joe jumped. Turns out it was the {{gayngst}}.
* ''Film/PrayersForBobby'': Teenage Bobby comes out and is faced with his mother's attempts to convert him, he fights against this until the church gets involved and then kills himself. The rest of the film is his mom coming to terms with his suicide and then campaigning against homophobia in the church to stop other kids killing themselves.

* Although it was [[IfItsYouItsOkay probably a one-time thing]] the threat that his wartime liaison with another man will be made public drives Brig Anderson to suicide in ''Advise and Consent''. The man with whom he had the liaison subsequently jumps off a bridge.

* Subverted in Mary Renault's ''The Charioteer'' -- the main character believes Ralph is about to commit suicide, but manages to interfere in time, resulting in a relatively happy ending. Considering the book was published in 1953, when homosexuality was still illegal in the UK, this came as a genuine surprise.
* 13-year-old Manuela's suicide in ''Das Kind Manuela'' (or ''Das Maedchen Manuela'', [[RecursiveAdaptation novelization]] of ''Film/MadchenInUniform'') after being punished for declaring her love for a female teacher and told she can't see the teacher again. It more closely fits the original play in its ending, and was written by the playwright.

* In ''Series/{{Glee}}'', Karofsky gets bullied at his new school when he is ForcedOutOfTheCloset and in less than a week he feels so terrorized that he chooses to hang himself, but survives.

* In ''Theatre/TheChildrensHour'', two schoolteachers, Martha and Karen, have their lives and reputations irrevocably shattered after one of their beastly students spreads a rumor that they are lesbian lovers. After a bitter confrontation with the student's grandmother, and even after the women lose their court case for slander, the big twist is that Martha really did have those feelings for Karen, but never knew how to articulate them until they were spoken by someone else. Karen is accepting of her friend, and suggests they move away and start a new life together. In both the 1960 film and theatre version of the story, Martha kills herself before the night is through. The 1930s film adaptation ''These Three'' averts this as Martha is [[HideYourLesbians straight]] and doesn't attempt suicide.

-->'''Ram's father at the funeral ceremony:''' I love my dead gay son!

* ''Manga/NatsuENoTobira'' has Claude, who is in love with Marion (a boy) and ultimately commits suicide.

* It's suggested that John Reddear from The Tamakis' ''Skim'' was in love with another boy from his Catholic school and is part of the reason he committed suicide at the start of the story.

* In ''Film/MaVieEnRose'', the 7-year old trans girl protagonist hides in a freezer at one point. Her suicide attempt, however, fails.
* [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] in ''Film/{{Heathers}}''. Veronica and J.D. pass off several murders they have committed as suicides by forging {{Suicide Note}}s. They make the two {{Jerk Jock}}s Ram and Kurt out to be closeted homosexuals, which makes the whole thing more credible and buys the two guys some post-mortem compassion from the rest of the community.
-->'''Ram's father at the funeral ceremony:''' I love my dead gay son!
* Martha in the second filmed version of ''Theatre/TheChildrensHour'' hangs herself after her AnguishedDeclarationOfLove to her best friend Karen. The suicide is more complicated than just Martha being depressed over being lesbian, but all the issues come down to her sexuality in the end.
* Although it was [[IfItsYouItsOkay probably a one-time thing]], the threat that his wartime liaison with another man will be made public drives Senator Brigham Anderson to suicide in ''Advise and Consent''.
* ''Film/Normal2003'': This is narrowly subverted at the start when the protagonist, a closeted trans woman, tries to shoot herself on her 25th wedding anniversary. She's talked down by her wife and ends up coming out.
* ''Film/LostAndDelirious'': Paulie kills herself when her beloved Tori breaks up with her due to fear of her family disowning her, and dates a guy (probably trying to pass for straight). She insists they're not lesbians, just [[SingleTargetSexuality into each other specifically]], but the effect is the same.
* ''{{Film/Sappho}}'': [[spoiler:Sappho]] kills herself once her same-sex affair collapses.
* ''Film/EloisesLover'': Àsia steps into the street and lets a car strike her, distraught after her mother and boyfriend discover her relationship with Eloïse, an issue she'd felt great anxiety over. She later dies from her injuries.

%%* Margaret in ''Affinity'' intends to take her life at the end of the story. The TV adaptation explicitly shows her jumping into the Thames. - '''Administrivia/ZeroContextExample''' - '''Is she a lesbian?'''

%%* In Fritz Peters's ''Finistere'', Michel drowns at the end, probably intending to die though this is only hinted at. When the book was published -- in the early '50s -- the tragic-conclusion trope was still ''de rigueur''. - '''Administrivia/ZeroContextExample''' - '''Is Michel gay?'''

* Although it was [[IfItsYouItsOkay probably a one-time thing]] the threat that his wartime liaison with another man will be made public drives Brig Anderson to suicide in ''Advise and Consent''. The man with whom he had the liaison subsequently jumps off a bridge.
* In ''[[Literature/{{Illuminatus}} The Historical Illuminatus Chronicles]]'', a WitchHunt to root out homosexual students at [[BoardingSchool Eton College]] leads Geoffrey Wildeblood to jump into a nearby lake to drown. His lover, John Babcock, realizes then that he could never risk anyone finding out about his bisexuality, which later leads to [[spoiler: him being blackmailed by his employee, Seamus Muadhen/James Moon, after spotting Babcock leaving a brothel]].

%%* ''Theatre/TheBoysInTheBand'': Michael both lampshades and inverts the trope. - '''Administrivia/ZeroContextExample''' - '''Is he gay, and does he commit suicide?'''

* In the Japanese ''Anime/MyHime'' computer game, if you as the main character [[DatingSim choose to date]] Natsuki Kuga, [[SchoolgirlLesbians her best friend Shizuru Fujino]] is so hurt that she [[DrivenToSuicide kills herself]].

* ''Film/EloisesLover'': Àsia steps into the street and lets a car strike her, distraught after her mother discovering her relationship with Eloïse, an issue she'd felt great anxiety. She later dies of her injuries.

%%* Senator Brig Anderson in ''Film/AdviseAndConsent''. - '''Administrivia/ZeroContextExample''' - '''Is he gay, and does he commit suicide?'''

* ''Colonel Redl'': The protagonist (an Austrian intelligence officer) is both gay and compromised as a spy, so he's basically told to kill himself by his superiors. Redl was also a real person.