There is a sad irony in San Diego’s GLBT community as we recognize National Suicide Prevention Week.

In what is the second incident in just more than two months, yet another young person overdosed at The San Diego LGBT Community Center’s Sunburst Youth Housing Project on Monday.

The previous case, on June 29, resulted in the death of a resident. According to residents of the facility, the resident’s drug use was no secret. Heroin and methamphetamine were his drugs of choice.

In July 2007, San Diego Police Department served a search warrant on a residence at the Youth Housing Project and took into custody a resident, who was charged and convicted with possession of a large quantity of ecstasy tablets.

Nationally, nearly 4,000 youth take their lives every year, while more than 132,000 attempt suicide. A 2007 study, Report of the Secretary’s Task Force on Youth Suicide indicates that GLBTQ youth are twice as likely to attempt suicide as their straight counterparts. What does this mean for Sunburst? What does this mean for The Center? What does this mean for our community? We must be twice as vigilant. We must listen twice as hard. We must watch twice as closely. We must work twice as much to ensure that our youth do not fall into a state of despair, from which they see no other option than taking their own lives.

There can be no question to the value of The Center’s Sunburst Youth Housing Project, and its mission of keeping GLBTQ youth off the street. It has been described as the crown jewel of The San Diego LGBT Community Center. We must care for our precious gifts, less they become tarnished in some manner. Sometimes, taking a hard look in the mirror is the best way to move forward.

When The Center made a serious “scheduling error” last December, costing them $150,000 of public funds, community members stepped up to make sure the Youth Housing Project’s doors stayed open. The Center partnered with cast members from the musical touring company of RENT to raise funds. Groups, organizations and businesses have stepped up to raise funds to keep the facility financially stable. It was a humbling moment for us all, to be sure, to have to reach out for funds that would have been otherwise guaranteed. But with humility comes strength and community. We honor the community for pulling together to raise the necessary financial resources.

These are critical investments. Investments that keep the doors open. As a newspaper, it is our job to report the news, and, in our editorial section, offer our thoughts on various issues. In times like this, it is often hard to do so because we understand that there is not one person to blame. There is no one to single out and say, “If only he/she had or hadn’t… .”

As these tragedies have occurred, present and past members of The Center’s board of directors quickly put pen to paper and came to the defense of the organization, writing letters to the editor, noting what a great success the project is.

We agree. We do not wish to invalidate the work the housing project has done getting GLBTQ youth off the streets. However, we believe that these pens need to be put to paper to set systems in place to prevent, to the best of their ability, these tragedies.

And we believe that The Center has a better ability. We believe that The Center can achieve the greater purpose it set out to achieve in its mission for Sunburst.

We understand these are hard times, especially as it relates to financial resources. Budget cuts are coming from every direction, and, finances are required to staff such a powerful community resource.

Sometimes knowing the challenge is half the battle. And this is what we know. We cannot look the other way and solutions need to be found. We cannot look to Sacramento or to City Hall, as they struggle with their budget processes. We cannot look to the young people to self-regulate their behaviors.

Instead, we must hold the mirror to ourselves. We must stand guard and protect those who are weakest and most vulnerable among us. It is our duty. It is our responsibility. And our timeline is now. Not tomorrow, not next week, and not next year. For if this past year holds true, for at least three young people that would be too late.