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The Affirmation Messenger is a weekly message from the Affirmation Executive Committee. This week's message was written by Affirmation's Director of Outreach and Advocacy, Robert Moore.
Robert Moore
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Standing Up to Homelessness
1.6 million Youth are Homeless in America, and 40% Are LGBT
22 August 2010
When I was a teen and my family found out that I was gay, I was kicked out and disowned. Like so many other youth across this country I had no clue what to do. I was from a very small Oregon town and knew there was no help for me there. I took the last of $50 and bought a greyhound bus ticket to Portland. After arriving in Portland, I had no money or clue what to do next. I was scared, heartbroken, broke and all alone. For the first couple of nights I slept on the side of a building with a rooftop ledge that protected me from the rain. I had two backpacks of clothes, but would have traded them both for a blanket to protect me from the cold January weather.
Luckily after three days in Portland I ran into a friend I knew from school, who was also kicked out for being queer. He told me about the youth shelter and day programs for homeless youth in Portland. That night he took me to the shelter. I slept at the shelter for about a month till I was harassed and threatened by other homeless youth for being gay. OutsideIn, the day program I went to everyday for food and job search help was able to put me into "safe" housing. This was an apartment they originally had for homeless mothers, but since none were living there at the time, they moved me in. After three months at the "safe" house, OutsideIn helped me get an apartment of my own in NW Portland. They paid for all the move-in costs and rent for two months. While at the "safe" house, I had got a paid internship that paid enough for rent. I was hired on at the place I had my internship and stayed with them for three and a half years.
I was one of the lucky ones. So many youth do not have organizations in their communities to help them out as much as I was helped. Even cities that do have them they are way underfunded, understaffed, or just not safe for LGBT youth. There are 1.6 million youth in this country with a vast majority having no or very little help to get them off the street. It is estimated that 40% of homeless youth are LGBT. Many of the LGBT homeless youth do not feel safe, understood, or cared about when they try to find help. So many feel it is safer to sleep on the streets or in parks then in a shelter where they could be harassed, threatened, beat, or raped when it is learned that they are gay.
In a country that is as rich and as focused on religion and family as ours, there should be no youth that is forced to sleep on the streets. This year at Affirmation's conference I will be co-facilitating with Chloe Noble from Salt Lake City, Utah, an action group to address this issue. Last year Chloe walked across the country to learn first hand what homeless youth in America go through everyday. You will be shocked by what she witnessed and endured while she slept on the streets with the youth. We will also be assembling survival kits of hygiene products for the homeless youth of San Francisco. After assembling the kits into backpacks, we will go meet with some of the youth organizations, pass out the backpacks, serve lunch to the youth and then sit down and eat with them.
I hope you will join me and participate in this action group on Saturday of conference. We can learn so much from their stories and they can learn from ours. If you have not registered yet please click here and register today.
Much Love,
Robert Moore
Director of Outreach & Advocacy
Affirmation: Gay & Lesbian Mormons
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