This week’s infographic was created by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in partnership with the Human Rights Campaign. It points to a severe overrepresentation of LGBTQ (or LGBT) youth in the homeless population. While only 10% of American youth are LGBT, they comprise between 20-40% of all homeless youth in the nation. In the United States "nearly 3 million young Americans are homeless."
These disproportionate figures are largely a result of the "discrimination, bullying, and scorn" that LGBT youth often face in their home lives and in school settings. In fact, conflicts in the home setting are the leading cause of youth homelessness in America. Additionally 86% of gay and lesbian students who partook in a survey reported experiencing verbal harassment at school because of their sexual orientation, while 22% noted being physically assaulted at school (of which the majority did not report the attack because they suspected the authorities would not care).
Not only are LGBT youth at a higher risk of experiencing homelessness, they are also twice as likely to be victims of sexual abuse prior to the age of 12. Statistically speaking, there is a 50/50 chance that LGBT youth will be met with some form of negativity when coming out to their parents.
This infographic shows that the problem simply does not stop at these youth being rendered homeless; it continues on the streets, where 1 in 3 transgender youth will be rejected by a shelter on account of their gender/identity expression. Additionally, once homeless, LGBT youth are more likely than non-LGBT youth to commit suicide, be a victim of sexual assault, and experience mental health issues.
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the Human Rights Campaign have suggested that an integral part of the solution to these issues and overrepresentations would involve targeting the main causes that account for LGBT youth to remaining homeless, which are:
- Lack of affordable housing and discrimination against LGBT youth in homeless shelters;
- Earning unlivable wages due to an incomplete education; and
- Being homeless or living in poverty due to drug abuse.
The following are possible ways to remedy these problems:
- Government agencies (at various levels) can be encouraged to make a commitment to secure safe foster homes for LGBT youth.
- More research is needed to collect data pertaining to "populations impacted by youth homelessness".
- Shelter staff should be adequately trained in LGBT cultural competency.
