Cast-Out Fruities: Recontextualizing Family Rejection within Everyday Discrimination and Suicide Risk among LGBTQ+ Malaysians

LGBTQ+ individuals in Malaysia face discrimination, criminalization, and family rejection; placing them at heightened risk for poor mental health outcomes, including suicide. Guided by Minority Stress Theory and the Interpersonal-Psychological Theory of Suicide, this study examined family rejection and suicidal ideation as mediators in the relationship between discrimination and suicidal behavior. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 317 LGBTQ+ Malaysians aged 18–49 years (M = 23.62, SD = 5.08). Correlational analyses revealed that family rejection was positively associated with discrimination (r = .51, p < .001), suicidal ideation (r = .24, p < .001), and suicidal behavior (r = .29, p < .001). Serial mediation analyses indicated partial mediation, where suicidal ideation significantly mediated the relationship between discrimination and suicidal behavior (b = 0.146, 95%CI [.079, .213]), while the indirect pathways involving family rejection (alone or sequentially) were not significant. The model accounted for 47.7% of the variance in suicidal behavior. Family rejection may be contextualized within the broader discriminatory environment shaping its psychological impact. Learned helplessness and chosen family networks are proposed as theoretically plausible explanations for this pattern. These underscore the need for culturally-sensitive interventions targeting structural discrimination, strengthening community-based support and engaging biological families through training. Future research should explore chosen family support, learned helplessness, and rejection sensitivity to inform suicide-prevention efforts in hostile sociopolitical contexts.