Who is Advocating for Homeless LGBT Youth?

It's impossible to talk about youth homelessness without addressing one group that is disproportionately represented on the streets of America - young people who identify as LGBTQ. The combination of poverty and homophobia has proven lethal, and literally left thousands of youth doing whatever it takes to survive on the streets. These startling figures leave us asking one question: do homeless service providers and gay rights activists need to step up to the plate to advocate for this forgotten population?

This year, between 574,000 and 1.6 million youth will experience homelessness (read why that number is tough to pinpoint here), according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Of these homeless youth, 20 to 40 percent identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered, according to a 2007 study titled, "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Youth: An Epidemic of Homelessness" by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF).

Given the estimates that 2-3 percent of the American public identifies as LGBT, it's troubling that this population is so disproportionately represented on streets - and at such a young age. After coming out to their families, many are running away, being kicked out of their homes, or - even worse - being assaulted by a member of their family, according to the NGLTF report. And that's just the beginning. Life on the streets is hard and cruel, particularly for LGBT youth. "I don't think there is any other situation where so much oppression and persecution and cruelty is happening to people because they're gay," Carl Siciliano, who runs a shelter for LGBT youth in New York City, told the Indypendent. "These kids are bearing the brunt of homophobia in our society.

Indeed, the national numbers from the NGLTF report paint a sad picture of the hard circumstances faced by homeless LGBT youth:

• 26 percent of youth who come out to their parents as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender are kicked out of their homes
• 25-33 percent of all homeless youth have engaged in survival sex
• 42 percent of lesbian, gay and bisexual youth abuse alcohol
• Nearly 50 percent of LGBT homeless youth have attempted suicide

When we zoom in on homeless youth in New York City, the picture gets even uglier:

• 3,800 youth under 24 are homeless
• 1,600 youth are sleeping on the street, in an abandoned building, at a transportation site, or in a car, bus or train, 150 children spend the night with a sex work client
• 28 percent of homeless youth identify as LGBT
• 11 percent are unsure or unwilling to identify their sexual orientation
• 45 percent of homeless youth are on the street because they have been thrown out of their home or are runaways
• 40 percent of homeless youth have spent time in the juvenile justice system or in jail or prison

It's tough to write about this topic in a voice that is so detached, tame, and reasoned. The truth is, the stories from the LGBTQ street youth covered in the Indypendent, are deeply bothersome. The emotions are raw, the desperation clear. It's easy to forget that caught up in the mix of beatings, dumpster diving, prostitution, and alcoholism, are kids who were looking for acceptance.

So who is advocating for these young people? Who is helping them escape the nightmares on the streets?

Since LGBT homeless youth are often subjected to verbal and physical violence in regular youth homeless shelters, it is a best practice to create "safe spaces" for homeless LGBT youth. And although shelters exist that exclusively serve LGBT youth -- including three in New York City -- advocates say this is scant compared to the need. "I don't think there are 200 beds in the country for gay youth," Carl Siciliano told the Indypendent. "If there are more than 1,000 gay youth on the streets in New York, there has got to be at least 20,000 in the country. And that is a conservative estimate. So 200 beds for 20,000 kids? Obviously we are not stepping up to the plate."

Image from emma.c's public Flickr photo stream.