I just had another teen patient hauled off to the hospital following the end of a sexual relationship.

When teens who struggle with mental illness find themselves engaged in sexual relationships, there’s lots of danger involved. As a physician specializing in child and adolescent psychiatry, I should know. Their parents frequently bring them to our practice with the hope that we can help to keep them alive. Some of them experience same-sex attraction and face unique challenges, especially when they struggle to reconcile their biological drives and the messages of the culture with (in many instances) the teaching they’ve been exposed to from their parents and from the church.

There are reasons why we have laws against 14 year olds driving cars, or 17 year olds buying alcohol. We don’t permit this behavior because we question whether kids at that age have the necessary judgment and emotional maturity to exercise such…