Hurricane Sandy destroys LGBT homeless youth center

 in: http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/hurricane-sandy-destroys-lgbt-homeless-youth-center041112

David Shankbone

 

 

Hurricane Sandy is making life more difficult for those already struggling. A New York City drop-in center for homeless LGBT youth is trying to recover from water damage caused by the storm.

The Ali Forney Center, a nonprofit working with gay homeless teenagers, has a walk in center in the traditionally gay neighborhood of Chelsea (located in Manhattan). The building, a block away from the Hudson River, can no longer offer the help it has for the past seven years.

'Our worst fears were realized; everything was destroyed and the space is uninhabitable,' wrote Carl Siciliano, Ali Forney's executive director, on the organization's website. 'The water level went four feet high, destroying our phones, computers, refrigerator, food and supplies.'

Presently Ali Forney is looking for a temporary address before a permanent move to a larger facility. New York City's LGBT Community Center is helping out with an offer of space; however, right now Ali Forney will need as much cash as possible to offer help to a vulnerable population.

'The best way people can reach out to help in this very challenging time is by making monetary donations,' Siciliano wrote.

For more information, please go to Ali Forney's Twitter feed, Facebook page or its site.

http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/hurricane-sandy-destroys-lgbt-homeless-youth-center041112

Cindy Lauper divulga projeto para atender jovens LGBT desabrigados

in: http://www.athosgls.com.br/

A cantora Cindy Lauper decidiu apostar em um novo projeto e lançou o Forty to None Project – um programa nacional com o objetivo de promover a educação contra a discriminação e dar suporte aos jovens LGBT desabrigados.

A ideia do projeto surgiu há cinco anos, quando a cantora fotografava um editorial para a revista Interview, em Nova York, e próximo a um píer, encontrou um grupo de jovens gays e transexuais sem teto por conta do preconceito da própria família.

De acordo com dados oficias do Governo, cerca de 1,6 milhão de jovens estão desabrigados nos Estados Unidos e, deste número, 40% deles se identificam como gays, lésbicas, bissexuais ou transgêneros.

Pelo projeto, além de promover a educação e a conscientização da população, jovens LGBT poderão contar com apoio jurídico em todas as esferas de Governo e serão incluídos em programas de apoio para que possam compartilhar as suas experiências com outros jovens e, ainda, terem acesso facilitado a uma rede de empregos. A princípio, o projeto deve ser executado apenas em território norte-americano, mas a cantora espera que a ideia seja copiada por outros países.

http://www.athosgls.com.br/

LGBT Immigrant Youth Face Increased Risk of Homelessness

in: http://www.care2.com/

Imagine moving to a new country with your family in pursuit of a better life, only to have your parents disown you and make you homeless when they find out about your sexuality or gender identity.

This is the focus of a recent Feet in Two Worlds feature that catalogs in moving detail the personal stories of gay immigrant youth who have been made homeless due to their sexuality.

Feet in Two Worlds is an organization that tells the stories of today's immigrant communities, and over the passed week the site has highlighted the very serious problem of LGBT immigrant youth in New York who are being made homeless after admitting their sexual orientation or gender identity to their families and their communities.

Often, LGBT immigrant youth are especially vulnerable in this regard because, while homelessness is a pervasive issue for all LGBTs, LGBTs from immigrant communities often lack support systems such as other family members that they can turn to or friends that are in a position to give them shelter and help.

From the Feet in Two Worlds article:

The most recent survey of runaway and homeless youth in New York estimates that, each night, a minimum of 3,800 youth are homeless, more than half of whom identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. Within the overall homeless youth population, 15 percent were born outside of the U.S. mainland. Advocates say much of the immigrant homeless youth population identifies as lesbian, gay, transgender or bisexual (LGBT).

Jim Bolas with the Empire State Coalition of Youth and Family Services led the 2007 survey of homeless youth.

“I think immigrant youth are going to be disproportionately affected because they have less resources elsewhere. I do think that immigrant youth have an additional challenge that even other homeless youth don’t face,” Bolas said.

For gay immigrant youth, poverty and lack of support from their families and immigrant communities make them particularly vulnerable to becoming – and staying – homeless. Margo Hirsch of the Empire State Coalition described the risks faced by these young people as a combination of poverty, cultural homophobia, religion, and a lack of community support systems.

When young LGBT people come to the U.S. and are offered the opportunity to be open about their sexuality, their families often do not follow suit, relying on behaviors and attitudes from their home countries where homosexuality may be taboo, or even violently repressed.

The article uses personal stories to relate how vital New York's homeless programs are for LGBT immigrant youth looking to turn their lives around, and this is an example of how fortunate it was that, earlier this year, proposed cuts to New York's youth homeless programs were dropped.

The article also details the challenges that homeless youth face and the dangers they are subjected to after being made homeless, such as feeling they have no other choice than resorting to sex work in order to feed and clothe themselves.

The Federal Response to Gay and Transgender Homeless Youth report published in 2010 found that 44% of gay or trans homeless youth would be asked to exchange sex for money, food, drugs, shelter, or clothes, compared to 26% of straight homeless youth. The report also found that 58% of homeless gay and transgender youth had been sexually assaulted, compared to 33% of homeless heterosexual youth.

While the Feet in Two Worlds article focuses on the stories of gay immigrant youth, we know that transgender people are especially vulnerable when it comes to issues like joblessness and poverty and it follows that immigrant trans youth would suffer under this same disproportionate burden.

A study published last month by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force found that almost half of the trans people surveyed had attempted suicide, that they had double the rate of unemployment and were four times likely to live in extreme poverty. You can read more about the study's findings here.

Finally, you can read the full Feet in Two Worlds article here and see videos of homeless teens telling their personal stories.

http://www.care2.com/