Homeless for the Holidays: Witnessing the Lives of Homeless LGBT Youth

[William769]

This is among the most terrible expressions of homophobia in our time.

As LGBT youth come out at younger ages, thousands are driven from their homes by rejecting families. And in a society that has grown increasingly unwilling to support a safety net for the most vulnerable, they are forced to endure homelessness and destitution.

In New York City the statistics are horrifying. LGBT youth make up 40 percent of the homeless youth population, accounting for 1,600 of NYC's 3,800 homeless youth. And NYC's response is even more horrifying: Only 250 youth shelter beds are provided by the city, forcing many youths to sleep in subways, on park benches, in abandoned buildings and on rooftops. And New York City has more shelter beds for LGBT youths than any other city in the nation.

But statistics don't adequately express the horror of what these youths endure. They don't express the suffering these kids go through; the psychological torment of being rejected, feeling unloved, alone and terrified; or the physical torment of the cold, exposure to the elements, hunger and chronic sleep deprivation.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carl-siciliano/homeless-for-the-holidays-witnessing-the-lives-of-homeless-lgbt-youth_b_2349018.html

This is how they get start their lives.

[HillWilliam]

1. K&R

and cross-posted to FB.