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 Third Of Homeless Young New Yorkers Gay
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: December 17, 2007 - 5:00 pm
ET
(New York City) A new study says there are at
least 3,800 people under the age of 25 living on the streets of New York and
that almost 30 percent are gay, lesbian or bisexual.
The study, by the Empire State Coalition of Youth
and Family Services, has been turned over to City Council, which paid for it.
Nearly half of all homeless young people were
Black, about 25 percent were Latino the study said. Those numbers would be
proportionate to Black and Latino populations in New York.
But the high number of gays on the streets is
about three times the estimated percentage of New York's LGBT community.
The survey found that while many homeless youth went
to city shelters 42 percent slept on the streets, subways or in empty buildings.
Some, the study said, turned to prostitution
trying to find a "trick" to spend the night with.
The study was based on surveys of 1,000 young people
taken last
summer.
The results confirm a warning issued last January
by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the National Coalition for the
Homeless which said gay, lesbian and transgender youth make up at least 20
percent - possibly as much as 40 percent - of the total number of homeless and
runaway youth across the country.
The two national advocacy groups accused the
federal government of neglecting what they described as an epidemic.
The NGLTF/Coaltion for the Homeless report cited
incidents nationwide of anti-gay harassment at homeless shelters and recommended
that some shelter space be set aside solely for gay youth.
They also said any organization seeking public
funding to serve homeless youth should be required to prove its staff would
treat gay and lesbian young people competently and fairly.
The January report said that roughly one-fourth
of gay and lesbian teens are kicked out of their homes after their parents learn
of their sexual orientation. The report also said many gay youths experienced
physical violence during the process of coming out.
Once homeless, the report says, these young
people are more vulnerable than their peers to problems of mental health,
substance abuse and sexually transmitted diseases.
©365Gay.com 2007
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