Award-winning gay youth activist found dead aged 22 following apparent suicide

Utah’s LGBT community has lost a much-loved, well-respected advocate to his battle with depression.

Lincoln Parkin, a 22-year-old, LGBTQ youth advocate, is being remembered for his contribution to his community, and his passion for societal issues concerning LGBTQ and environmental sustainability. He was found dead on April 6, in what’s being treated as an apparent suicide.

Parkin, who’s being celebrated as somebody who was “determined to stand up for what he believed in”, is said to have battled depression for almost ten years. He had spent a large part of his youth as an active member of his Mormon church, and had struggled to find a balance between this aspect of his life, and his identification as a gay man.

His father, Brent Parkin, has spoken about why he thinks his son decided to end his life.

“He was so conflicted with [being gay] because it was contrary to our religion and to things he thought were true for years,” Brent Parkin said. “He knew he was gay at 12, but struggled in silence for years.”

Parkin opened up to his parents about being gay at the age of 15, and they ensured him that they loved him they were “behind him 100 percent”.

Brent Parkin continued, “My wife and I told him we loved him whether he was gay or straight. He’s our son, and if he’s gay, he’s our son even more. Him being gay was his chemistry, and we embraced it.”

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Despite receiving tremendous support from his family, Lincoln Parkin’s father supposed his son had become “imbalanced”, and thus he shut himself off.

“I think he got out of balance physically, spiritually, emotionally and socially,” Brent Parkin said. “He got pretty extreme with his diet, he got to the point where he felt like God wasn’t there for him, and he isolated himself.”

As well as his personal battle with understanding his sexual orientation and his religion, Lincoln did not like how different he would feel when he would take his medication, and did not want to keep trying different drug combinations from doctors.

“I think he definitely had a chemical imbalance… It affected him so much.”

Though Brent Parkin said his son had attempted suicide a number of years before, he states that he appeared content in the period prior to his death.

“His therapist was totally shocked,” he said. “We always knew [suicide] was a possibility. It was our biggest fear, but there was nothing recently that would have indicated this.”

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A number of people who knew Lincoln, worked with, and loved him, have described the loss of the inspirational young advocate as “devastating”.

Marian Edmonds-Allen, who was executive director Ogden’s OUTreach Resource Centers, a nonprofit organisation with an aim to provide help services for at-risk LGBT youth, met Parkin about four years ago, and has praised his determination to speak out for the causes he believed in.

“He lived everything he cared about,” she said. “He lived his convictions.”

Amongst Parkin’s achievements is his influence on his high school’s Gay-Straight Alliance club, where he was president. Julie Van Orden, an English teacher at the school and the club’s adviser during Parkin’s time there, has attributed much of the club’s success to Parkin himself, saying that, “It’s this big vibrant group now, and that’s in large part due to what Lincoln did while he was there.”

In his final year of school, Parkin was awarded a $1,000 scholarship for his LGBTQ advocacy. One of his steps was to send a letter to his school District, in which he urged officials to support school GSAs, promoting the fair treatment of students all students, regardless of the sexual orientation.

In a news release regarding his award, Parkin said, “In the future, I envision a world where sexual orientation won’t define a person, but refine them. Where differences will be celebrated, not mutilated.”

The news release also described Parkin as a “self-proclaimed music activist,” noting that Lincoln used “his passion for singing to work toward the goal of equality for LGBTQ people.”

Asides from his advocacy for LGBTQ equality, Parkin was also concerned with environmental sustainability, and volunteered at United Way of Northern Utah where he would talk about not wasting food, recycling, and respecting the planet and other living things.

Bob Hunter, the president of the organisation, commended his approach, and praised Lincoln Parkin for inspiring other people.

“He was never pushy, but he was insistent enough that we paid attention to it,’ Hunter said. ‘He inspired us to be better to the Earth. He was just so kind and thoughtful. He was a very special young man.’

There is a lack of information regarding exact statistics of youth suicide for the LGBTQ community, largely because in previous records, sexual orientation was not documented. But Edmonds-Allen, who is now involved in the Continuum of Care for LGBTQ Youth organisation, said that “LGBT youth attempt suicide four times more often than their straight peers, and those rejected by their parents have an eight times greater risk”.

In 2014, there were 42,773 deaths by suicide in the US. It is currently the second leading cause of death for 15-24 year olds.

Our condolences go out to all those who knew Lincoln Parkin, and inspiration to many and somebody who used his time to try and help others who felt lost, despite his long struggle with his own personal demons.

“He was just a very big-hearted kid.”

Words: Georgios Hadjimichael

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