New Research on LGBTQ Youth Homelessness — and How to End It

by Natalie Wendt · 2010-06-24 08:00:00 UTC
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Ah, June. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Month, pride parades and now new research into why LGBTQ youth become homeless at alarming rates. This June has been especially tough for homeless LGBTQ youth. As we recently wrote, New York's proposing that funding for LGBTQ homeless shelters be cut in half. The budget proposal comes less than two weeks after one such shelter, the Ali Forney Center, was vandalized. Though we all know that LGBTQ young adults are especially vulnerable both to homelessness and to exploitation while homeless, there are still no federal programs focusing specifically on LGBTQ homeless youth.

The Center for American Progress report released this week shows that people are coming out at much younger ages, often in their early teens, unlike previous generations that came out as adults (if at all). Because LGBTQ youth come out when they're still totally dependent on their families and too young to work, they have nowhere safe to go if their families reject them — which is what's happening all too often when the average age at which gay and lesbian youth in New York become homeless is just 14. Many shelters don't house transgender people according to the gender they identify as, and some don't allow trans people at all. Federal grants for homeless shelters and services don't even mandate anti-discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

But CAP's report wasn't all bad news.

It also made recommendations from this research, including:

  • Education, services and counseling for families so they don't kick out their kids for coming out. Way too many LGBTQ teens become homeless because their families reject them. (Is that child abuse?)

  • Safer schools for LGBTQ students, accessible education for those who are homeless, and addressing the role aggressive school bullying plays in youth homelessness.

  • Change federal guidelines to protect homeless youth in general, and LGBTQ homeless youth in particular, from discrimination.

  • Develop housing options and services for LGBTQ youth through HUD and the Department of Health and Human Services.

  • Research what programs are (and aren't) working and adequately track both LGBTQ homeless youth and programs designed to help them.

As Pride is celebrated this weekend, let's not leave homeless LGBTQ youth behind.
Photo credit: |neatphoto|
Natalie Wendt is an elementary school teacher and freelance writer. She has volunteered at Hope House, a shelter for homeless women, and with Food Not Bombs.
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