“We need appropriate funding and public policies providing safe spaces for [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] youth.”
NICHOLAS RAY

Nearly five years ago when a group home in Waltham opened for homeless lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth, staff anticipated that the 12-bed facility would be filled immediately.

But initially, only four teens utilized the group home, known as Waltham House, after it opened its doors in October 2002. The eight remaining beds were empty.

Puzzled staff – who had heard from teens that there was a desperate need for such a safe haven – started asking questions. They quickly learned from social workers that many of them didn’t know how to identify and help teens struggling with issues of gender identity or sexual orientation.

“They hadn’t had much training about issues facing [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] youth,” said Colby Berger, who is director of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning services at the Home for Little Wanderers, a Jamaica Plain-based nonprofit agency that operates Waltham House.

That’s when the Home for Little Wanderers decided to provide training on gender and sexual orientation issues to staffers at the state Department of Social Services. Thanks to that training, Waltham House – the only group home of its kind in New England – has received a steady flow of referrals from DSS. Today the home is full and has a waiting list.

The training sessions and Waltham House are held up as models in a new report released last week, which shows that 20 percent to 40 percent of the nation’s homeless youth identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender [LGBT]. The report, “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Youth: An Epidemic of Homelessness,” was issued by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute and the National Coalition for the Homeless.

Over the course of a year, more than 500,000 LGBT youth nationwide will experience homelessness, according to Nicholas Ray, the report’s author.

“As we started looking at the numbers and realizing how disproportionately overrepresented our LGBT youth are in the total youth homeless population, it became abundantly clear that this was a crisis we needed to look at,” said Ray, who is a policy analyst at the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Institute.

At High Risk
While they are on the streets or in temporary shelter, many LGBT youth are at high risk of abusing drugs or alcohol and engaging in risky sexual behavior for money to buy food or clothing, according to the report. They also are vulnerable to depression and other mental health problems and face the threat of assault and harassment, the report shows.

Ray said there are many reasons why LGBT become homeless, but mostly it’s because of family conflict and the institutionalized homophobia that they face.

The report documents how LGBT youth have been victimized and discriminated against in youth facilities and emergency shelters throughout the country. It also shows how some have been denied access to shelters.

Ray said service providers lack the financial and social support to serve homeless teens who have come out or are struggling with gender identity issues.

“We need appropriate funding and public policies providing safe spaces for LGBT youth – places where they are affirmed and respected and supported and not made to feel like second-class citizens simply because of their sexual orientation or their gender identity,” Ray said.

The report calls for federal funding for programs targeted toward helping LGBT youth. It also wants the government to come up with a better way of calculating homelessness among the nation’s youth.

In an interview last week, Ray emphasized that the LGBT youth homelessness is a problem that is experienced not only in major U.S. cities.

“In reality, it’s a problem from coast to coast, from north to south. It’s not just gay kids coming out and heading for the excitement of L.A. or New York,” he said.

In New England, LGBT youth are turning to Waltham House, which serves teens between the ages of 14 and 18.

Berger said before Waltham House opened, staff at the Home for Little Wanderers had heard from LGBT teens who said they didn’t feel safe in DSS youth facilities, shelters or foster care.

“Many said they felt safer living on the streets than in these facilities. Some were telling us they were having unsafe sex in order to contract HIV so they could qualify for housing for HIV-infected individuals – which they felt was safer,” said Berger, who was hired to open Waltham House

The Home opened Waltham House, fully expecting that there would be a flood of teens waiting to access its services. When only four teens showed up – three of whom were referred by the same social worker – staff members were eager to find out why.

It was clear from conversations with DSS workers that they needed and wanted training on LGBT issues, explained Berger. With help from a foundation grant, the home trained about 2,000 social workers.

“This had never been done in any other state,” said Berger. “We administered pre- and post-training evaluation and we found that 91 percent of participants found the training to be helpful or very helpful Â… now, we’re being asked by other states to help them do the same thing.”