The figures are staggering. Between 1.6 million to 2.8 million homeless youth in our country! More staggering still is the data that shows up to 40% of those homeless are LGBT youth.
For some reason I never considered homelessness as an LGBT issue but the figures speak clearly, it is. The reasons for these kids ending up on the street are myriad, but they share some disturbing similarities.
A report from the Center for American Progress shows 58% of them are victims of sexual assault. This is much higher than their straight counterparts. Additionally, 62% suffer discrimination from their families because of their sexual orientation. I would imagine that is a big cause of the problem.
The report is eye opening and worth your time to read. Beyond understanding the problem is doing something about it. That will take both our community and our local state and federal governments getting involved and working to change this.
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The behavior of many north Oak Cliff residents this week at a town hall meeting about homeless persons was disturbing. Their mass hysteria resulted from outrageous false presumptions and was similar to the hysteria in recent healthcare reform town hall meetings and tea parties. Fortunately most residents, and almost all gay residents, didn’t buy their prejudges and misinformation and avoided the meeting described in the DMN as a Jerry Springer show without the tossed chairs.
Thank you for giving us facts regarding homeless persons so we can base our opinions and emotions on reality.
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