15% to 25% of LGBT High School Aged Children are Homeless in Massachusetts
A study conducted by Boston’s Children’s Hospital of more than 6,300 Massachusetts public high school students found that 25% of high school students who identified as Lesbian or Gay are homeless, while 15% of bisexual students are. This compares with 3% for students identifying as heterosexual. These numbers are certainly cause for concern here in the Bay State. And while these statistics can make us all sit up and take notice, a recent report by the William Institute showed that 40% of homeless youth overall are LGBT.
Chart courtesy of Think Progress.com: http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2012/07/12/515641/study-40-percent-of-homeless-youth-are-lgbt-family-rejection-is-leading-cause/
No kids should be homeless, that’s a clear bottom line. However, the fact that so many LGBT kids are, and the causes seem addressable. Just looking at the William’s study chart above, if the top three reasons could be addressed, we would make a huge impact on this issue, perhaps even for all kids.
This is an excellent point that many people don’t appreciate about homelessness – and it doesn’t only apply to LGBT youth. Being rejected or abused by one’s family is the fairly obvious explanation for being on the street as opposed to depending on relatives for food and shelter when all else feels. But I suspect most people refuse to see child abuse in our society for what it is, the U.S. has refused to ratify international agreements on the human rights of children and the social safety nets for minors in this country have a horrible reputation. It’s easier to dismiss the homeless as druggies and the incurable mentally ill, when many people with nowhere to go would thrive with even a minimal level of psychosocial and instrumental support.
sorry about the typo, should say “when all else fails”
Thank you for your adding to the conversation Gavin. I hadn’t thought of the fact that this kind of rejection (for LGBT and non-LGBT kids alike) is actually child abuse, that’s a really good point, perhaps going along the lines of “Hey you can be my kid, just make sure you fall in line with my sense for who you should be as a person”. Those things are different from encouraging our kids to be remarkable and excellent people in their own right. You can be straight or LGBT and be remarkable and excellent.
I especially liked what you said here:
What are you personally doing about this? Think that one over readers.. I personally will do what ever I can t end this
Thank you for your comment and call to action Eddie. I think ending this problem might be hard to do. I think the reason is really the result of many deep societal issues and prejudices. While ending it may be difficult there are things each one of us could do to help this.
Eddie, to jump start us all and as a lead up to another blog post on ideas, can you list some of the simple actions our readers could take to help this?