Gay Homels Youth and their Liv on the Streets of New York Cy - Humany Actn

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Much of the recent discsn ncerng the gay muny is relegated to the topic of gay marriage. Beg a plex issue on self be rather easy to ignore other growg issu related to this mory. One of the creasgly important on is occurrg right on the streets of Ameri’s metropolis like New York Cy. In the 1990s, the leadg e of  homelsns was the e of crack e. Today, however, is a different story, pecially for the youth. The for homels youth are no longer jt dgs or alhol, but is their sexualy. As the visibily of lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr (LGBT) culture and people melt to the fabric of mastream society through TV shows such as Will and Grace or Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, this has fluenced people to e out earlier and earlier, at an average age of now 15. This is a strikg difference pared to a ago when people were embracg their sexualy only llege or once they had tablished their reers and had a firm support system. The days, however distrsgly, 26 percent of those who e out before the age of 18 are kicked out of their home and end up the streets, as the Report of the Secretary’s Task Force on Youth Suici revealed. A lot of tim they are abandoned bee of relig reasons, sce the ey of many relig vote beg ‘queer’ is clearly a non-acceptable qutn of choice (Ramafedi 1987). Such data pots to the existence of greater and urgent problems for policy makers and ernmental officials ncerng the gay homels youth. By lookg at existg servic today, or better the lack thereof, and by takg the time to actually listen to the stori of jt a few of the voluntary street kids be obv quickly that there is a strong need for awarens and muny llaboratn surroundg the issue of gay homelsns, New York Cy and across the Uned Stat. [perfectpullquote align="right" borrtop="false" ce="" lk="" lor="" class="" size=""] 26 percent of those who e out before the age of 18 are kicked out of their home and end up the streets.[/perfectpullquote] One of Many: L. A reprentative for an creasg group of left-out kids is the story of L., who is 24 years old and whom we met at one of the Chelsea piers on the wt si of Manhattan, a place where young gay homels youth of mostly Ain Amerin or Lato scent gather every night om as far as New Jersey to talk, rennect or dance around. As one of the few gay homels youth whose parents accepted him for his sexualy, L. still faced problems wh his muny. Five guys bullied and molted him. In self-fense, L. stabbed one of the dividuals and was later nvicted and sent to jail for 10 days. After beg released om jail L. felt secure on the streets of his hometown and ran away to New York Cy. [perfectpullquote align="left" borrtop="false" ce="" lk="" lor="" class="" size=""]There is a general lack of awarens New York Cy about the growg problem of gay homels youth.[/perfectpullquote] Havg not much money he turned to a small food pantry hosted by the Metropolan Communy Church of New York (MCCNY) lled Sylvia’s Place that turns to a shelter for homels LGBT youth at night. There he was able to get dner, take a shower, wash his cloth and sleep on the floor. “There was only a limed number of beds, all of them one room, was sticky and loud, but at least I enjoyed beg around others wh siar backgrounds and a staff that genuely red”, L. remembers. A few months later, L. was able to enroll the Transnal Hog Program of the Ali Forney Center (AFC), an stutn which provis homels LGBT youths between the ag of 16 and 24 wh the support and servic they need to pe the streets and live healthy, pennt liv. In this two-year program, L. lived wh five other LGBT-intified youth along wh three staff members an apartment offerg him some stabily and se managers who actually ma him feel wele. He spent his nights the apartment and durg the day was volved wh the center’s day programs, om group discsns to hands on activi. At the time we met him, he told that he had worked as a go-go dancer and wh the help of the AFC he had his own apartment now that he shared wh one person. Currently he is pursug his dream: “I want to bee an actor.” It seems he has his life together, after all. In speakg wh L., he emphasized the fact that there is a general lack of awarens New York Cy about the growg problem of gay homels youth. Tourists and other visors of the docks might intify them as regular kids, bee as all teenagers they drs well: “There is ually no way to pot out the crowd”, L. lghed, “I always ma sure I looked well, bee I didn’t want anyone to know I was homels.” Wh his personal story, L. provis a better amework to unrstandg the life of a gay homels teen the Uned Stat today. The Gap the Stat Quo Acrdg to what he revealed, L. seemed to have managed to avoid havg to spend too much time on the streets. At the same time, for many others the problems they have to face after arrivg the cy are terrifyg. In New York there are only a few public shelters, ually n by Christian anizatns. In the se of openly LGBT youth their natural goal is often nversn and one learns quickly of stori of lbian girls havg to take make-up urs. Moreover, the stutns do not always wele LGBT homels youth even if more and more fah based stutns open their doors for them. Bill Torr, Director of Communy Rourc at the AFC needs not to thk long to remember the disturbg story of a fifteen-year-old boy om the Bronx who always felt he was born the wrong body. “Every morng this youngster would leave home as a boy, change to a girl durg the day, and return home as a boy”, Torr explas. The boy also practiced ’mong‘, the street term for g hormon bought on the black market. The hormon had eventually given him breasts and one day his mother disvered his secret when she entered the room while he was changg: She got angry and kicked him out of the hoe. Seekg for help the boy turned to the Covenant Hoe, a tholic stutn maly fund by public tax money providg 60 percent of New York’s beds for the homels youth. [perfectpullquote align="left" borrtop="false" ce="" lk="" lor="" class="" size=""]“Every morng this youngster would leave home as a boy, change to a girl durg the day, and return home as a boy”[/perfectpullquote] What followed is hard to image: Appearg as a girl, he had an take terview wh the shelter staff who assumed by his looks that he ed was a girl, ially allowg him to stay the female sectn. At the end of the terview the assumed girl had to show her ID rd, and as the staff member saw the picture of the girl beg a boy, the man started screamg at him how sick he was and how he uld do this to his body. They forced him to strip off his cloth and put him naked to a closet. Other staff members would randomly pass by and open the closet door to get a glimpse of sensatn out of the “chick wh a dick”. After a while the staff fally phed him, still naked, to the male sectn of the shelter. The male attendants started yellg at her to stay away om the beds bee they did not want “AIDS on the sheets.” Still beg stunned that such thgs uld happen at a tax-fund stutn, Torr ntu emotnally: “Eventually, she was btally beaten, molted and urated upon and realizg the suatn they were , the shelter staff didn’t hate to put her a b and force her to leave.” [perfectpullquote align="right" borrtop="false" ce="" lk="" lor="" class="" size=""]Even wh this private sectn, the provid beds rema empty, bee the LGBT youth are aaid to go there due to own past experienc or stori like the one of the young transgenr boy.[/perfectpullquote] This is merely another one of many sad stori to be heard. The transgenr boy was lucky enough to fd his way to the Ali Forney Center. The AFC was started June 2002 as a rponse to the lack of safe shelter for gay youth New York Cy. The center rri s name honor of an Ain-Amerin teenager who dited himself to improvg the liv of and drew attentn to mted crim on homels gay teenagers the cy until he himself was murred 1997. Forney’s tragic ath first lled the attentn to the horrid ndns homels LGBT youth face on the streets. Consequently, after the AFC staff learned om the maltreated boy about what he had gone through, and due to the fact that the Covenant Hoe is partly fund by public tax money, the AFC filed a su agast this stutn. As a small succs, the urt found that publicly fund shelters n by fah based stutns now mt provi a separate and private sectn for LGBT youth. However, even wh this private sectn, the provid beds rema empty, bee the LGBT youth are aaid to go there due to own past experienc or stori like the one of the young transgenr boy. It is necsary for the LGBT youth to have more separate private shelters, sce physil and psychologil abe is a mon realy many public facili. As a rult of the current suatn, the young people hate to take advantage of the existg shelters or flock to already straed servic, bee they feel safer on the streets. Meanwhile, the numbers of homels LGBT youth New York are creasg, as they e out of the closet at a younger and younger age. Addnally, acrdg to the Natnal Gay and Lbian Task Force report of 2006 an average of 3 to 5 percent of the U.S. populatn intifi as lbian, gay, bisexual or transgenr, while the U.S. Department of Health and Human Servic timat the number of homels and naway youth rangg om 575,000 to 1.6 ln per year, but wh a staggerg rate of 20 to 40 percent of them intifyg themselv as LGBT. Given the numbers is clear that LGBT youth experience homelsns at a disproportnate rate. Fundg Problems and Capaci This rate is not beg vered by public stutns at all. Statistics of the Natnal Runaway Swchboard ced the prs release to the report suggt that approximately 8.400 of the timated 15.000 to 20.000 homels youth livg New York Cy are LGBT. This high number is nonted wh the realy of only about 300 beds the current system, acrdg to Bill Torr. [perfectpullquote align="right" borrtop="false" ce="" lk="" lor="" class="" size=""]Unsurprisgly, budget issu are not unmon.[/perfectpullquote] Furthermore, private stutns face the suatn of havg to close down. Sylvia’s Place, L.’s first source for help servicg the homels youth and loted wh MCCNY’s church buildg, serv as emergency overnight shelter for LGBT youth unr the age of 24 and was forced to close down their send shelter Harlem bee of the lack of fundg. “We are pennt on donatns, sce we do not receive any fundg om the State or Feral ernment. We are basilly forced to take month by month”, explas Kate Barnhart, a staff member of the shelter. Unsurprisgly, budget issu are not unmon at Sylvia’s Place. At the time of the terview, Barnhart expected that she would not receive her paycheck that week bee of the lack of money. Moreover, is not unual that she and the other staff are not beg paid for up to three months. It is due to the srce fancial rourc of the supportg stutns that Bill Torr of the AFC even advic his ‘youth help seekers’ generally to not e out of the closet until they n provi a support system of their own to fall back on. [perfectpullquote align="left" borrtop="false" ce="" lk="" lor="" class="" size=""]Approximately 8,400 of the timated 15,000 to 20,000 homels youth livg New York Cy are LGBT.[/perfectpullquote] Fortunately, at least the Ali Forney Center started receivg public money, sce after the sndal of the Covenant Hoe was brought to public attentn public stutns are more likely to open up their purs for alternative stutns. It helps the AFC to ntue to be able to offer three ma programs, wh the Ali Forney Day Center beg the entry pot for the homels youth to receive a se manager, primary medil re, HIV ttg, mental health asssment and treatment, food, employment assistance, and referral to the Emergency Hog Program or the Transnal Hog Program. LGBT youths are allowed to stay the Emergency Hog Program for up to six months. This staff-supervised temporary hog provis a safe environment wh the actual re of a home and people to look out for them. Here they n be the kids they are, facg such tremendo difficulti the outsi world. In the Transnal Hog Program, the youth have more eedom to terme their day-to-day activi. The Center also assists them matag employment or ntug tn while helpg them fd more permanent hog. Like the AFC, another anizatn lled the Green Chimneys has also veloped two hog programs for LGBT youth. Their Agency Operated Boardg Home program is signed wh the primary goal to provi a safe and stctured environment parable to a home for young people between 12 to 16 years of age who do not f to other existg child welfare settgs. Their other program, the Gramercy Rince at Ungar Hoe, is a group rintial program for youth between the ag of 16 and 20. The basic goal for the Gramercy Rince is to enable olr adolcents foster re to functn the urban world penntly and succsfully. It seems fortg that AFC’s number of apartments is slowly creasg, and th more and more kids n be helped. However, the slow growth of the Center is far outpaced by the already existg and growg numbers of LGBT homels youth. Wh the timated 8.400 LGBT street kids md, as of now, they n only provi the small number of 58 beds, wh around 200 people on the wag list. Placement is given based on senry and emergency circumstanc. As their fundg suatn has improved, they recently have received a grant to e up wh a new facily Manhattan or the outskirts. Green Chimneys offers another 20 transnal beds their Triangle Tribe Apartments. [perfectpullquote align="left" borrtop="false" ce="" lk="" lor="" class="" size=""]Those who appear to be tough enough to fight for themselv on the street or a mastream shelter have to be turned down.[/perfectpullquote] At Sylvia’s Place, the suatn n only be alt wh night by night: Although the shelter n provi only 6 official beds, they ually end up providg overnight shelter for 20 – 25 youths wh people sleepg everywhere om the kchen floor to the top of the bets. When there are more youngsters wantg to stay for the night, choic have to be ma. The transsexual youth are accepted first, bee, as the Task Force report stat, about 20 percent of them would not fd their way and need assistance a regular shelter. The youngt are accepted sendly. Those who appear to be tough enough to fight for themselv on the street or a mastream shelter have to be turned down. Sylvia’s Place n only do so much tryg to protect the weakt of this mory wh the mory. The unlucky on have to turn elsewhere or stay the streets. Neverthels, wh the suatn beg as tough as is, the youth some s velop a sense of muny and mararie and n be assumed that on the streets of New York gay homels youth have closed ranks maly due to the efforts of people like Kate Barnhart of Sylvia’s Place and programs like those provid the Ali Forney Center. Yet, apart om a small noticeable gree of aternalism, has bee clear that wh the current existg servic far on their lims, wh long wag lists and a growg populatn of gay homels that add up to several thoands, the mand for addnal shelters that specialize the needs of LGBT homels youth is greater than ever. Dangero Trap: Sex Work For gay youth, mastream shelters are a source of abe. Stori like the one of the transgenred boy of Covenant Hoe make easy to unrstand why LGBT youth on the streets prefer to stay away om mastream shelters, and would rather opt to get by on their own. However, pg the threat of public shelters means enterg to another threat: prostutn. For some, sellg their bodi be a survival strategy as quickly as two weeks after their arrival to the cy. As Bill Torr explas and L. nfirms, bee gay homels youth are younger and younger, they are easy targets of elr panrs who trick them to prostutn. The olr men tablish tst wh the gay teen by providg food, shelter, physil protectn, and eventually troducg highly addictive dgs such as crystal methamphetame, which heightens sexual sir and appete. In Mnota, five separate state-wi studi by the Amherst H. Wilr Foundatn found out that 10 to 20 percent of homels youth are pennt on dgs. Once dgs are troduced, prostutn be more likely. [perfectpullquote align="right" borrtop="false" ce="" lk="" lor="" class="" size=""]A study of homels youth Canada ced the Task Force report found that gay homels youth practice risky ’survival sex‘ wh multiple sex-partners as a method to pe wh the neglect of basic needs three tim more than their heterosexual peers.[/perfectpullquote] Gay homels youth n be picked up for sex work om a variety of lotns. A popular lotn is an alley near the Chelsea piers. It is beg performed directly the rs, a public park or one of the peep-show vio stor nearby. Also, the Inter wh s special tert web portals like or provis a new, quick and easy method to fd clients or a shelter exchange for sex. A study of homels youth Canada ced the Task Force report found that gay homels youth practice risky ’survival sex‘ wh multiple sex-partners as a method to pe wh the neglect of basic needs three tim more than their heterosexual peers, half of them beg likely to tt HIV posive eventually, as well as beg fected wh other Sexually Transmted Diseas (STD). Coupled wh the likely chance of beg physilly or sexually abed beyond what was agreed upon (if one n speak of a fair al at all) by the ctomers themselv, the issue of sex work be prevalent. Oftentim the teenagers have a hard time negotiatg ndom e wh a sex partner, if beg aware of the risks at all. Other tim they choose not to practice safe sex. Sce some do not even expect to bee olr than 21, they ask themselv: Why should I re? Do matter? Will make a difference? “After all the tragedi the dividuals have experienced, they rign themselv to the belief that they will go to hell anyway”, Bill Torr explas. Acrdg to Kai Wright, Author of the Book 'Driftg towards Love' about three homels gay kids of lour NYC, for those of the gay youth fected wh HIV unr the age of 20, over 90 percent are Ain-Amerin or Lato. The Task Force report also refers to several studi that dite that up to one third of all homels adolcents engage sperate survival sex. In speakg to J., another 19-year-old homels teenager on one of the piers, he timated that 50 percent of homels youth are volved wh sex work and expected also half of them to get HIV. Gaetz’s sample of the Toronto homels youth prove J.’s first timatn to be rrect pecially for transgenr homels youth, who were about three tim more likely to engage survival sex than the rt of the sample.  J. is one of the lucky few who after a long journey were able to pe the perverted system. The startg pot of his street reer is equal to the story of many others: When his Puerto Rin fay found out about his sexualy they forced him to leave home. After several suici attempts and later sellg his body on the streets, J. was fortunate to be able to enter to the Green Chimney Program, which provid him wh a relatively healthy and stable life. He even has e up wh a new visn: “I want to bee a pilot. Or go to llege one day.” Role Mols and Gentrifitn Other growg issu for the LBGT homels populatn are the lack of gay role mols and the need for more safe muny spac. Often enough, the muni the youngsters pe om provi no exampl for an accepted and tolerated gay life to live, pecially when to black or Lato cultural backgrounds. Generally, the exampl of gay people the media are not manifold and is also te that there are hardly any referenc to gay people of lour pop culture. Kai Wright scrib that racial inty and cultural belongg are so important to a lot people of lour, that if there is no space wh the muny for LGBT youth, homophobia is felt even more acutely. One of the characters his book “newer saw gay people” his neighbourhood blocks of one of the eastern boroughs: “There are no boutiqu wh rabow flags. We have five gay publitns NYC and none of them circulate east New York.” Sce ral areas lack the important referenc of gay life exampl is no surprise that many of the LGBT teens e to the ci wh nothg more than a b ticket and a misty dream. They nnot know that even there, their space for ployment is rtricted. In New York Cy for s, Christopher Street and the Wt Village have been an area tradnally ed by the LGBT muny. Ironilly, has as of recently also bee more and more attractive for vtors, landlords and ndo owners and upled wh neighborhood groups who associate gay homelsns wh crimaly and fearg the valuatn of their posssns, LGBT homels teenagers are slowly beg phed out. [perfectpullquote align="left" borrtop="false" ce="" lk="" lor="" class="" size=""]Fightg to sta muny space is one challenge, tablishg new space is yet another.[/perfectpullquote] This slow gentrifitn n be seen exemplary at the Chelsea pears, to be specific at Pier 40. A cy-workg group suggted a massive mercial velopment of the pier or a new permanent home for the Cirque du Soleil. However, one of the key opponents makg a se out of the suggted velopments was the anizatn FIERCE (Fabulo Inpennt Eduted Radils for Communy Empowerment). Started 2000, FIERCE is perhaps the only LBGT youth anizatn the untry fightg agast gentrifitn and displacement and for the right of the people to rema the public spac that have a cultural meang to them. In June 2008, FIERCE started a mpaign to velop and stall a 24-hour LGBT Youth Center on Pier 40 that would offer HIV ttg, job trag and assistance, a mic stud and an art room as well as a classroom and a medil center. The servic listed were the rult of a survey of approximately 300 LGBT youth on what they would want to see their muny space. “Active muny buildg is a means of stag the power of the LGBT muny,” asserts Glo Ross, lead anizer of the mpaign. Fightg to sta muny space is one challenge, tablishg new space is yet another. As the Ali Forney Center tri to crease the number of s available apartments by one per month, but is required by law to abi by New York Cy hog standards, which state that any apartment hostg more than 6 rints mt be approved by the muny. “It has been creasgly difficult for to fd new apartments, as landlords are weary of hog homels youth. And no one wants potential sex workers their neighborhood. As a rult, we are tryg to spread our plac of actn. We look to new neighborhoods and often fd ourselv wh two typ of apartments: slum apartments wh landlords that do not re; or really elegant, high qualy apartments owned by liberal landlords that want to support a good e and th help ”, Torr stat. Yet, while the apartments offer shelter, they nnot replace public muny space to hang out. [perfectpullquote align="right" borrtop="false" ce="" lk="" lor="" class="" size=""]Even gay adult men hate to participate LGBT homels youth programs, sce they have often been stigmatized and stereotyped as pedophil and generally over-sexualized.[/perfectpullquote] Communy Space Iniativ like those proposed by FIERCE make clear that one way out of isolatn om society is raisg awarens and tegratg gay homels youth to the larger society, namely more muny actn and volvement. In this ntext, Kai Wright pots out the other si of the : Homophobia is everywhere. It is to be found the black and Lato populatn jt as well as evangelil circl and there are even policians, who tra on homophobia for reer reasons. LGBT anizatns engagg the sector of homels kids enunter a lot of prejudice and th face the challenge of tryg to build up a work of supporters to crease their public visibily. It is important to not only to provi servic to the youth, but also to te the public about issu faced by the gay muny. It is also ccial to achieve a change the society’s fundamental perceptn that sexualy is a choice stead of a natural ndn. Until then, all the servic for gay homels youth will not be much more that a band-aid solutn. Jt as much as other anizatns like the Empire State Pri Agenda have bee fluential voic for the LGBT muny at large, the muny-based Ali Forney Center has managed to tablish self as an “attack dog” polil circl when to alg wh LGBT homels youth issu NCY. The center closely works wh the immediate neighborhood and has managed to raise a work of more than 220 volunteers, about half of them fay works. Wh this associatn of engaged and supportive dividuals, the center is able to effectively and directly advote on behalf of gay homels youth issu whenever necsary. Although policians slowly bee more aware of the voic, there is still a long way to go fightg for acceptance, pecially when to alg wh fah-based reasong. In addn to advocy, raisg the issue is also a necsary step orr for the gay muny to bee more aware and as a rult more volved. However, even gay adult men hate to participate LGBT homels youth programs, sce they have often been stigmatized and stereotyped as pedophil and generally over-sexualized. Yet, as Bill Torr om the AFC explas: “As long as the ernment ntu to ignore the issue, the LGBT muny mt e together as both a polil and social force and take on rponsibily.” The FIERCE iative n only be one startg pot for more empowerment wh the gay homels youth muny. Once succsful mols have been created, they n be ed as a template for other ci and neighborhoods throughout the untry to appropriately aid homels LGBT teens. Torr hop that polics will fally bee aware of the necsary chang to be ma the system. Clear remendatns are strsed exemplary by the New York Cy Associatn of Homels and Street-Involved Youth Organizatns: More money to improve the shelter and hog ndns of the GLBT youth, a mimum of 100 beds available to them nightly along wh available health re servic, a GLBT sensivy trag for publicly fund stutn’s staff or simply the monorg of the safety of GLBT youth shelters. Torr visn is yet a more spired one: He wish that “society will see LGBT homels youth no longer as a non-existg or exceptnal group but will support wh the necsary means, self-evintly.” * gay street new york city *