Homeless gay sex
Homeless LGBTQ Youth
Nearly Half of SF’s Homeless Youth are LGBTQ
By Dany Ricci
According to an article in The California Sunday Magazine, nearly half of San Francisco’s homeless youth are members of the LGBTQ group. While this statistic is partially due to a “decades older pilgrimage of gay and transgender youth” to San Francisco, a city known as a haven to queer folk seeking equality, the numbers are bleak throughout the country: Lambda Legal reports that anywhere from 20 to 40 percent of all homeless youth in the United States recognize as LGBTQ. Considering that the National Alliance to End Homeless estimates that “550,000 unaccompanied youth and young adults up to age 24 experience a homelessness episode of longer than one week” every year, these are staggering numbers.
Many of these youth have been disowned by their families or are escaping abuse based on their gender or sexuality. Many sleep on the streets, and many others seek shelter at homeless shelters—an arduous experience for any person, but particularly sensitive for transgender people who are often jeopardized by being assigned to beds according to their sex assigned at birth, not their gender iden
LGBTQ+ Young People Are More Likely to Experience Homelessness
LGBTQ+ youth experience a much higher risk of homelessness than their peers. Once on the street, they face additional hardships because of stigma and discrimination. This is the existence for LGBTQ+ youth across all of the cities where Covenant House works.
120%
LGBTQ+ youth are 120% more likely to experience homelessness than their peers.
40%
In the U.S., 40% of youth facing homelessness identify as LGBTQ+, compared to just 7% of all youth.
30%
At Covenant House, about 30% of the youth in residence with us identify as LGBTQ+
Why Do Gay Youth Experience Homelessness?
Like many youth facing homelessness, it's often not just one thing that causes them to life homelessness. Some may be facing poverty or subjected to abuse in the home, while others may have aged out of the foster care system.
But the most familiar reason that Diverse youth experience homelessness is family struggle due to their gender identity or expression or their sexual orientation. Many young people narrate us heartbreaking stories of rejection and eviction that led to life on the streets.
Once homeless, LGBTQ+ youth encounter f
Two young women in high institution are best friends, or so their families thought until they discovered that the duo were more than friends. The reaction of their families was robust and harsh.Both of these youthful women were thrown out of their homes by their parents because of who they are and who they love. It’s not an uncommon story and one that leads to many young LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual person, Transgender, Queer/Questioning) people facing homelessness.
“One of the major factors that contributes to homelessness and poverty for the LGBTQ population is family rejection. Such rejection also has a superb impact on a person’s ability to afford a home. For older people, severed family ties can mean a lack of access to capital for a down payment, which is often cited as a major barrier to home ownership,” explains Luis A. Vasquez, Daniel H. Renberg Law Fellow at The Williams Institute, UCLA, School of Rule. Vasquez is one of the authors, along with Adam P. Romero and Shoshana K. Goldberg, of the report LGBT People and Housing Affordability, Discrimination and Homelessness that was published by the Williams Institute in April 2020.
The Williams Institu
But seven years ago, after being diagnosed as schizophrenic (which is now successfully controlled through medication) he was hospitalised for months, so was unable to keep up with the rent. He lost the level and moved into his boyfriend’s place. Fourteen months ago, the relationship finally ended. That was when he started offering sex for somewhere to sleep.
Through this, he met the man who would become his new boyfriend. We will call him Tom. “At first it was totally just needing somewhere to be,” he says, but then, “I thought, I’m actually quite attracted to you. I did develop feelings for him.” Scott begins to portray Tom.
“He’s quite controlling actually and he doesn’t know how to keep his hands to himself,” he says. “He doesn’t mean it. It’s just he gets jealous. I’ll be talking to someone and he’ll go, ‘We’re leaving’ and drag me out of there. I’ll say something and then gain a smack in the mouth. I know not to say anything now.” He laughs. He says Tom chooses what he wears. The relationship is on-off. When it’s off, Scott has to find other places to remain – other men.
Sometimes, if he meets them in the street or in a straight lock, they are heterosexual, or at least con