SYDNEY newspaper The Daily Telegraph has come under fire on social media for a spread and article suggesting that being LGBTI is a health issue among secondary schoolkids. Below the headline “Fat chance of being healthy”, Telegraph staffer Rose Brennan lists statistics regarding childhood obesity and drug and alcohol use among teenagers.

In the centre of the page Brennan writes, “16.8% of secondary school students in Australia are attracted to people of the same sex as them or to both sexes”. Above, a sub-heading states, “Young Aussies only have themselves to blame”.

The spread also lists a statistic stating that 12.2 per cent of 16-to-24 year old males and 21.6 per cent of females in the same age bracket experience “high or very high psychological distress”. The article draws from a NSW state government report canvassing young people to help determine a framework to address the needs of the nearly 1.3 million young people in the state.

The Australia Bureau of Statistics collected data on sexual attraction for the first time in its General Social Survey in 2015. The survey found that 3 per cent of Australia’s adult population identified as gay, lesbian, or other. Read more via Star Observer