Affirmation: Gay & Lesbian Mormons

Chloe Noble (left) and Jill Hardman

Two Utahns Raise Awareness about GLBT Homelessness
Forty-two Percent of Salt Lake’s Homeless Youth Are LGBT

From a story in the Salt Lake Tribune
July 2009

Two Utah residents of Mormon background, Chloe Noble and Jill Hardman, are walking across the nation, living on the street, to raise awareness of an alarmingly large segment of the homeless population: lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youths.

“We want people to really understand what kind of suffering they endure,” Noble said. “We want to leave a lasting impression so people will look at this epidemic and want to do something.”

Although a relatively small portion of juveniles and young adults identify as LGBT -- 5 percent to 8 percent -- they comprise 20 percent to 40 percent of the homeless youth population, according to the National Coalition for Youth.

Noble and Hardman, both Salt Lake City residents, are in their hometown this week on their 6,000-mile, circuitous trek (3,000 miles on foot, the rest by car). They started in May in Seattle and expect the journey to take six to nine months. The pair has walked through parts of Washington, Oregon and Northern California, carrying 50-pound packs.

In Salt Lake City, Volunteers of America found that 42 percent of the youths (ages 15 to 22) served at its Homeless Youth Resource Center, from October 2008 to February 2009, were LGBT. The center works with more than 700 homeless young people a year.

“Nationally, as well [as in Utah], there probably are fewer resources to help parents with youth who come out,” said Zachary Bale, director of homeless services for Volunteers of America in Utah. “What we see is an overall lack of support for those youth, including to the point that they're kicked out of their homes because of their sexual identification.”

Some LGBT kids get booted. Others run away.

Noble, who identifies as “gender queer,” left home when she was 20 years old and struggled with chronic homelessness for the next decade. Her LDS parents were “very loving,” Noble said, but they considered being gay or transgender a mental disorder.

The walk, she said, has been grueling but rewarding. She has spent time with homeless kids as young as 12. She is impressed with the remarkable services that many organizations provide to homeless youths. But more than a Band-Aid, more than drop-in centers or free meals, she said, solving LGBT homelessness requires education.

“That can be resolved by changing the perspective of how queer youth are seen,” Noble said. “The homeless gay and transgender youth of Utah deserve to be treated with dignity, respect and compassion.”

To learn more, visit their blog at http://www.pridewalk2009.org, check out their route map, and follow their tweets at twitter.com/chloenoble.