The Problem Of Homelessness Of LGBT Youths

1751 Words4 Pages

Imagine navigating through every day of your life, but everything feels off. It’s like you walk into your home, but someone moved all the furniture in your house two inches to the left. You’re called by a name, but you just know it as a sound that you know to respond to. None of the phonetic noises you get called by sound right, like hitting a foul key while playing piano. You are piloting a sack of flesh and bone, but it doesn’t feel like it’s your own. The parts look and feel wrong, like they should not be there. Living with the feeling of alienation not only from one’s own body, but from others around them. For many, this is a harsh and very true reality that they have to deal with on a day to day basis. Millions of people in the U.S. alone …show more content…

Many of these youths are victims of parental abuse, substance abuse, and have mental and/or physical health problems (Cochran et al 2002). Nearly 60% of homeless youth left home because of family conflict, 48.5% left home because of difficulty with a family member, and 14.3% left because of conflict with a family member over sexual orientation. LGBT youths experienced higher rates of physical victimization than their non-LGBT counterparts. LGBT youths had an average of 7.4 more perpetrators of sexual victimization than non-LGBT counterparts and LGBT youths have a higher rate of depressive symptoms. "[LGBT] homeless adolescents experience not only the vulnerabilities, daily difficulties, and survival challenges of living on the street but also the discrimination faced by [LGBT] youth in general," (Cochran et al 2002) meaning, in comparison to their non-LGBT counterparts, homeless LGBT youths have to face the struggles the go along with being homeless but also the struggles of being part of the LGBT community added onto that. In order to cope with the stress that goes hand in hand with this, many turn to substance abuse. When LGBT youth come to terms with their orientation or identity in context with their family, friends, or peers, they are "facing risks of isolation, rejection, and sometimes victimization by others" (Cochran et al 2002). When coming to terms with this while homeless, there are no such networks for potential support available to these youths. Cochran et al (2002) discussed further how homelessness is something that should be prevented as much as possible for LGBT youth. It was recommended that families involved go to therapy to help them come to terms with and accept their child. They also stated that community health programs should recognize that these youth are at higher risks and should assist them, and that overall there

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