Recognizing and Addressing the Needs of LGBT Youth

Illustration by Shaina Rubin

Sarah Lockwood’s article in last week’s Spectator highlighted the issues facing homeless or inadequately housed queer youth on the streets of New York, and I take this opportunity, in the context of the issues of sexuality and violence raised by Take Back the Night, to further draw attention to the experiences of this marginalized population. Queer youth comprise a group that is overrepresented among the homeless population. There is a greater percentage of queer people among the homeless than there is in the “general” population. Young people like Drew from Lockwood’s article face unique challenges and dangers—they are at risk and vulnerable to violence and exploitation for two reasons. First, because they are living in precarious conditions, and second, because they identify with a group that is still stigmatized through homophobia and being unable to “fit in” along with its associated risks of mental illness, suicide, and medical problems.

Aside from living on the street, LGBT youth often couch-surf, live in abandoned buildings known as squats, or face cycles of running away and returning. It is difficult for them to find employment because they might lack papers and may not present themselves as conforming to socially imposed gender norms. Many have also dropped out of school prematurely and have aged out of or run away from the foster care system. For queer youth who have resorted to sex work, they face equal if not greater sexual and physical violence from police than they do from johns. If they are arrested or somehow end up in the justice system, they face heightened heterosexist violence, harassment, and other discriminatory treatment from staff and inmates. For queer homeless youth, gay marriage equality tends not to be the most pressing issue.

Queer youth are also vulnerable when accessing normal avenues of community and affinity within the queer community. They often attend bars and clubs which are as unsafe as the street and often include excessive drug and alcohol consumption. These bars and clubs also have sexually predatory staff and patrons that may exacerbate an already long-standing history of substance abuse or produce an entirely new set of issues. As a population, queer homeless youth begin having sex at a younger age with more partners and with higher rates of unprotected sex, leading to an increased risk of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections as well as unwanted pregnancy.

Other supposedly supportive environments like community centers or groups can also be sites of danger and exploitation. What we often understand as safe places (our schools, our homes, and our social services) are actually seen by queer homeless youth to be the sites of greatest danger. Indeed, there is a strong connection between youth, sexuality, violence, and institutionalized homophobia. Physical and emotional violence among queer youth comes from parents and family as well as inside schools or within relationships. Females often experience a greater degree of violence than their male counterparts.

As a population, they are critically underserved because funding and institutional homophobia render them invisible. The very nature of the way in which social and welfare services are provided or funded in this country transforms all services into an impersonal and alienating process for the providers and the participants, leading to conflict and distrust for everyone involved. In New York City, there are only two queer-specific and queer-positive organizations that provide homeless shelters or transitional housing. These sites often go unrecognized and underappreciated and are also overwhelmed by the increasing numbers of clients they must serve. These include the Ali Forney Center in midtown, which operates several sites around the five boroughs, and Green Chimneys, which mostly provides queer youth with transitional housing and the means to live independently. Although these seem like adequate resources, there is still a critical need for cities like New York and other metropolitan areas that attract large numbers of queer homeless or at-risk youth to truly engage them through school, church, and governmental institutions. They are entitled to safe and positive housing, welfare, and other support equivalent to that of their non-queer peers.

The author is a junior in the School of General Studies majoring in anthropology. He is the vice president of the Columbia Queer Alliance and has worked for Gay Men’s Health Crisis Youth and Young Adult Initiatives, and the New York City AIDS Housing Network.