What happens to homeless LGBTQ+ youth when the shelters are out of beds?

The following is an excerpt from “Making Room” by Carl Siciliano,  founder of the Ali Forney Center, the largest agency dedicated to LGBTQ homeless youth in the country.

In the eighties and nineties, queer people were considered largely untouchable by mainstream politicians. Republicans at their best ignored us, and at their worst scapegoated us to win the conservative Christian vote. Democrats were less inclined to attack us, but kept us at arm’s length, like some embarrassing relative you tolerate at necessary holiday functions. Even as late as 2012, Barack Obama, the champion of “hope and change,” refused to endorse our right to marry until his vice president Joe Biden “gaffed” him into it by admitting his support on Meet the Press.

By the 2010s, however, things began to shift. As opinion polls moved in our favor, Democrats and even a few moderate Republicans were more willing to support the civil rights of the LGBTQ community. Yet that newfound support…

Read full story, and more, from Source: What happens to homeless LGBTQ+ youth when the shelters are out of beds?

Share

About Gay Today

Editor of Gay Today