STUDY: 40 Percent Of Homeless Youth Are LGBT, Family Rejection Is Leading Cause
ThinkProgress
10 months 1 week ago
Note from GLAAD
Miriam Lazewatsky, Faith and Campaigns Fellow at GLAADIt has previously been estimated that as many as 40 percent of homeless youth identify as LGBT, and a new Williams Institute study of youth shelters confirms this estimate. Between October 2011 and March 2012, 354 agencies completed surveys about their clients and found that about 40 percent of their homeless and non-homeless clients were LGBT (9 percent of whom identified as bisexual). About 30 percent of clients using housing-related services (like emergency shelter and transitional living programs) were LGBT.
No youth should ever be regected or abused by their family because of the sexual orientation or gender identity. GLAAD has often worked with Carl Siciliano and the Ali Forney Center, which provides shelter, counseling, case management, and primary medical care to homeless LGBT youth.