Young, Gay And Homeless: Fighting for Resources

“Young, Gay And Homeless: Fighting for Resources” National Public Radio

http://www.npr.org/2011/11/20/142364493/young-gay-and-homeless-fighting-for-resources

(All quotes taken from NPR)

“In a number of big cities around the country, a startling statistic has emerged:” thirty to forty percent of homeless youth (under 18 years old) are LGBT. This statistic is startling because, according to variety of sources, namely About.com, only an estimated 3.8% (9 million) of Americans identify as LGBT. So why the percentage skew?

Carter Seabron, the outreach coordinator for the Streetwork Project, agrees that it “absolutely” makes sense that 30-40% of “youth we see identify as being homeless also identify as being LGBT.” Seabron’s partner, Elena Wood, explains why she thinks there is such a strong correlation: “So, the parent might not say you need to get now, like I’m kicking you out, especially because that’s illegal if they are under 18, you know. But, I mean, it’s a very fine line between what’s their choice and what’s not.”

The nation’s largest organization dedicated to homeless LGBT youth is the Ali Forney Center, one of only three organizations catering to homeless LGBT kids in New York City. Its founder, Carl Siciliano, explains that now, “kids are coming out at younger and younger ages, and there are so many parents that aren’t being parents to their gay kids. They can’t cope, they can’t deal with it, their religion is in conflict the reality of their kids’ lives, and these kids are being thrown away.”

Siciliano also explains that the gay rights movement has not dealt with and has largely ignored the issue of homeless gay youth. Siciliano says: “The movement was articulated and thought out at a time when it was almost all adults coming out. We've really framed our fight for equality in adult terms, and almost all of the victories that we have won only really benefit the adults in our community…It is not so much laws with the kids; it is economics. It's a fight for resources. That's what our community hasn't quite gotten yet. We have to fight for resources to protect our kids. And how dare we say it gets better for the kids if we're not willing to fight to make sure they have what they need.”

Siciliano hopes that a rally in late October will begin a campaign that will help youth homelessness. He is still angry that youth homelessness is not a priority, as 100 of the 250 beds for 3,800 homeless kids in New York City were almost taken away due to the city’s budget cuts. Governer Andrew Cuomo is “doing so much to help the adults in the community and istaking actions that really harm and imperil the most vulnerable youth of our community. So, what do we do?”

Who is to blame for this situation: the homophobes who loudly protest gay rights, the parents who covertly send their kids onto the streets, the gay rights advocates who ignore the issue, or the homeless youth themselves? Is this an LGBT issue or just one of homelessness? Why have the issues of youth homelessness been largely ignored, and with that, can we fix this without compromising the fight for gay rights for adults?