Why We Rally for LGBT Homeless Youth

by Josie Raymond · 2010-06-11 11:22:00 UTC
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On Monday night, thousands of LGBT advocates, homeless advocates and LGBT homeless advocates will come together at a rally in New York's Union Square to show solidarity with LGBT homeless youth and to push for government funding for supportive housing.

The rally is co-sponsored by the Ali Forney Center, a shelter for LGBT youth in what seems like the most accepting city on earth, New York. This week, we all got a stark reminder of just why rallies like this one are necessary: the Ali Forney Center was vandalized with anti-gay graffiti.

Though the homophobic smears scrawled on the Queens shelter read, "Gay shelter" and "We don't want gay people here," they actually said a lot more. They said that there is a need for more education. They said that these homeless youth are struggling through no fault of their own, but because their families and their communities cannot accept them. It said that LGBT youth need safe, supportive homes.

New polling that shows that being gay is now considered "morally acceptable" by a majority of the population is probably of little comfort to the 25 percent of LGBT youth who are kicked out of their homes after coming out, or the 40 percent of homeless youth who identify as LGBT, or the almost 50 percent of LGBT homeless youth who have attempted suicide.

If you're in or near New York, consider coming out to the Rally to Protect Homeless LGBT Youth.

Photo credit: AndySProductions

Josie Raymond is a Change.org editor who has reported from the streets of the South Bronx, written for several magazines that folded (not her fault) and fixed thousands of typos.
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