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xchrom

(108,903 posts)
Sun Jun 22, 2014, 09:52 AM Jun 2014

San Francisco's Youth and LGBTQ Homeless Left with No Answer

http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/24498-san-franciscos-youth-and-lgbtq-homeless-left-with-no-answer



When Hillary Smith was 15 years old, her parents died. For the next eight years, she lived in Golden Gate Park, sleeping each night with many other homeless youths, all with different struggles that resulted in homelessness.

"I became homeless," Hilary said during a hearing at City Hall on youth and LGBTQ homelessness, "at the age of 15, when my parents died. I pretty much got abandoned and thrown into the muck of things, I guess you could call it. People ignored me when I was homeless. Asking for help wasn't just something I could go do. Asking like, 'What time is it?' almost always ended up in me getting completely ignored. Mostly, when I asked people what time it was, they'd say, 'No thank you.' "

Hillary's story is all too familiar in San Francisco, a city that prides itself on being a sanctuary to those in need. According to one homeless count, 1,902 youth - a count that includes "transitional youth," those under 24 - are currently homeless, and, astonishingly, over 50 percent of these youth have been homeless for more than a year. Forty percent of these youth are LBGTQ, and the majority said their homelessness was due to job loss.

To address youth and LGBT homelessness, and to address homelessness as a whole, the city of San Francisco held a total of five hearings during the months of April and May. Youth and LGBTQ homelessness were specifically addressed on the final of these five hearings, May 28.
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San Francisco's Youth and LGBTQ Homeless Left with No Answer (Original Post) xchrom Jun 2014 OP
Key fact, quote: Forty percent of these youth are LBGTQ ... Joe Magarac Jun 2014 #1
Excellent point. theHandpuppet Jun 2014 #2
... shenmue Jun 2014 #3
K&R! burrowowl Jul 2014 #4
 

Joe Magarac

(297 posts)
1. Key fact, quote: Forty percent of these youth are LBGTQ ...
Sun Jun 22, 2014, 10:21 AM
Jun 2014

Not just a question of "happen" to be gay.

Thrown out for being gay. Even in allegedly "ultra liberal" San Francisco.

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