Golden Girl Includes Homeless GLBT Youth in her Will

by Shannon Moriarty · 2009-10-28 11:55:00 UTC
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She's the Golden Girl with the golden heart. Bea Aurther, the late actress of Golden Girl fame, left a $300,000 gift in her will to a New York City organization that serves gay and lesbian youth.

The Ali Fornay Center is one of just a handful of organizations that exclusively shelters GLBT youth in New York City, serving roughly 1,000 youth annually. "We are overwhelmed with gratitude that Bea saw that LGBT youth deserve as much love and support as any other young person," said Executive Director Carl Sicilliano. The organization said today that they plan to name a building for Bea in light of her posthumous generosity.

Prior to her death several months ago, Bea was a lifelong advocate of GLBT rights. Her generous legacy gift illustrates that she made the connection between intolerance and the rising prevalence of GLBT homeless youth.

As I've written in the past, GLBT youth are disproportionately represented among homeless youth. Roughly 20 percent of homeless youth self-identify as LGBTQ, and that's a conservative estimate. This population is much more vulnerable to exploitation and abuse than their heterosexual peers. To make matters worse, the social service safety net to catch these troubled teens is, in many communities, nonexistent.

This is precisely why organizations like the Ali Fornay Center are so important. They provide a safe, non-threatening haven that will accept them when their families do not.

Why can't we all just be like Bea?

Image: SheWire

Shannon Moriarty has worked in various homeless shelters and service organizations around the country. She is a graduate student studying housing and urban policy at Tufts University.
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