A Promising Future

Creating place, making space for homeless queer youth in the Bay State

By Michael Anthony Fowler

“It’s not about me; it’s about the kids.” Any who have invited Boston Pride Grand Marshal Erica Kay-Webster to discuss her tenacious efforts to open a residential school for LGBTQ homeless youth on the Cape have likely heard her utter this refrain. Having experienced firsthand the anguish and hardships of living as a rejected transgender teen on the streets of 1960s New York City, it’s easy to understand why Kay-Webster’s personal story is often a focus in these discussions: she lends a prominent face and voice to a group of people who have long gone unremarked. In the end, through her own resilience and the compassionate support of two strangers who would become her adoptive parents,

she was given a second chance. And it is this chance that she wishes to pay forward to today’s homeless and runaway queer youth.

The available statistics on homelessness among LGBTQ youth are alarming: while queer people account for roughly five percent of the US population, among the nation’s homeless youth they represent as much as 40 percent (Williams Institute 2012). The reality is stark: Homelessness is disproportionately experienced by queer youth in this country. According to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (2002), each year there are between 1.6 and 2.8 million runaway and homeless youth on the streets. Among these youth, around 600,000 identify as LGBT or gender non-conforming. This “epidemic” of queer youth homelessness, as the National LGBTQ Task Force aptly characterized it eight years ago, continues unabated. And it is taking its greatest toll on youth of color (Center for American Progress 2012), who suffer the twofold iniquities of systemic homo- /trans-phobia and racism.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts – despite being a trailblazer in LGBTQ rights – has not fared better than other states in curbing the rates of youth homelessness. The Department of Housing and Urban Development recently determined that, from 2007 to 2014, Massachusetts experienced the nation’s second highest increase in homelessness. In the same study, Massachusetts ranked fourth for the largest increase in unaccompanied youth population from 2013-2014, with a sobering 25.8 percent growth. Furthermore, a representative sample of high schools in Massachusetts (2012) suggests that one quarter of lesbian and gay teenagers and 15 percent of their bisexual peers are experiencing homelessness; among the homeless youth population,

Erica Kay-Webster and super volunteer Youth Ambassador Kegan prepare backpacks of clothing and supplies for the Foundation for International Justice’s weekly unaccompanied youth drop-in center. Like Kay-Webster, Kegan experienced homelessness as a youth. Credit: David Webster

a staggering 33.4 percent identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or unsure. These days, youth feel comfortable coming out at younger ages than ever before. We now find pre-teens telling their families that they are queer. Unlike their young adult counterparts, these youth are not at an age at which they can live independently. As Reed Christian and Anya Mukarji-Connolly pointed out in a 2012 article, “The mainstream LGBTQQ movement organizations generally encourage young people to come out, usually with no real comprehension of the hostile forces they are likely to confront, and without strong material commitments to addressing their needs.” Herein lies a bitter irony: as our youth are coming out in greater numbers and at earlier ages, responding to signs of growing acceptance of LGBTQ people on a societal level, they are met with rejection and mistreatment at home and end up on the streets without the means to support themselves. This unfortunate fact is borne out by the National Homeless Youth Provider Survey (2012), which found that seven out of every 10 queer youth cite family rejection of their sexual orientation or gender identity as the reason why they are homeless or runaway, while half report abuse or mistreatment at home.

Moreover, after fleeing rejection, hostility, or outright abuse at home, our youth seek out shelters, foster homes, and related service providers, where they frequently experience similarly motivated mistreatment and discrimination by staff or peers. For example, at many shelters, trans and gender non-conforming youth are assigned to beds, bathrooms, and other facilities based on their sex rather than their gender, placing them at greater risk for physical and sexual abuse by their peers. Situations like these make queer youth much more likely than their straight counterparts to stay with a stranger, to “couch surf ”, or to squat.

Youth in unstable housing situations are preoccupied by the exigencies of day-to-day survival, which expose them to great hazards: sexual exploitation, drug and substance abuse, and HIV and STIs, among others. In fact, 44 percent of homeless queer youth report having been propositioned by a stranger for sex in exchange for money, shelter, food, drugs, or clothing (Van Leeuwen et al. 2005). Some of the activities to which our youth resort for survival, such as sex work, are illegal, which leads to their introduction into the correctional sys-

tem, where they encounter further discrimination and abuse. Holding a youth in the juvenile correction system for one year can be 10 times as expensive as getting this youth into permanent housing (Van Leeuwen 2004), thereby removing the need for illegal survival activities. Investing in transitional housing is therefore not only lifesaving, but also cost effective.

According to Jeff Krehely of the Center for American Progress, fundamental needs at the shelter and service provider level include cultural competency training for staff, multipronged service packages which address the particular struggles that queer youth have, and curbing the mistreatment of queer youth. Such improvements would encourage youth to avail themselves of institutional resources. But inspiring the trust and confidence of homeless queer youth is only part of the equation. We must also commit resources to the creation and expansion of programs designed to remedy chronic queer youth homelessness.

On this front, there is cause for hope: people have begun to talk more and more about youth homelessness and how best to address it. For instance, the True Colors Fund recently conducted a hugely successful social media campaign (#40toNoneDay) to raise awareness about the issue and to invite people to take action. Additionally, there have been some encouraging changes in legislation, policy, and services, both at the national and state level. The federal government has outlined a five-point strategy (Opening Doors), including low barrier housing, education/training geared toward employment, sustained support services, preparation for independent living, and creating support networks. And the annual policy recommendations of the Massachusetts’ Commission on LGBTQQ Youth – still the only state agency in the US solely dedicated to this segment of the population – outline practicable steps to help chronically homeless youth acquire

safe, stable housing, counseling and medical attention, education and training, and employment. Beginning in fiscal year 2014, the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance was granted a line item in the annual budget for a pilot initiative within its Home & Healthy for Good program that provides up to 32 units of low-barrier housing for chronically homeless queer young adults, aged 18-24.

Promise Place School, Kay-Webster’s creation, is another Massachusetts-based initiative. It aims to promulgate a long-term solution to chronic homelessness, through the establishment of safe living and learning environments for queer youth between 12 and 24 years old. In addition to permanent housing, education, and vocational training, students will also have access to nutritious meals, seasonal and gender-affirming clothing, health care, and recreational activities. This innovative approach places education at the center, so that graduates are prepared for success and independent living. The first school is set to open on the Cape in time for the autumn 2015 semester and will initially accommodate up to 50 youth.

With efforts like these, the Bay State is poised to create spaces and places, where our homeless queer youth feel safe, affirmed, and supported. To paraphrase Erica Kay-Webster, when our queer youth are given the skills and opportunities to succeed, anything is possible. To these youth, who exhibit such resilience, such potential, let’s make a promise and keep it.

Michael Anthony Fowler is Editor-in-Chief of the Boston Pride Guide. Among his other volunteer commitments, he is Vice President of the Foundation for International Justice, the non-profit organization working to open the first Promise Place School for LGBTQ homeless youth.