Abstract
This paper analyzes a series of statistics as well as studies, journals and reviews of information surrounding LGBT+ homeless youth, discrimination in the form of societal and family rejection, and the mental effect such rejection has on many LGBT+ youth and adults. Statistics provided by a sample of homeless shelters reported that LGBT+ youth make up a large portion of the total population of the clients served at any given shelter included in the sample size. Of the total cumulative population of LGBT+ youths in the shelters provided, a total of 68% reported their reason for being homeless is a result of familial rejection. Discrimination against this group of people inhibits their ability to seek shelter, particularly transgender women, as one study found through utilizing transgender test-callers inquiring about possible shelter. Additionally, discrimination against these individuals, commonly experienced during their formative adolescent years, significantly damaged their mental health, with a majority of LGBT+ youths experiencing symptoms of anxiety and depression. These findings explain how influential discrimination is to the health and wellbeing of LGBT+ individuals, to the extent that many find themselves homeless as a result, with general discrimination and rejection being the top-most reason LGBT+ youths are overrepresented in the total homeless population.
For centuries, those who didn’t identify with heterosexuality/heteronormativity were discriminated against by society; they were shunned, excommunicated, jailed, tortured and even executed for their sexuality out of fear that these individuals would corrupt society. While society grew and changed over time, its view on homosexuality held firm. Gay marriage was only legalized in America in 2015, a huge step towards equality for the LGBT+ community, however the archaic the stigma against these individuals still remains to this day. LGBT+ is a relatively recelnty coined term encompassing all non-heteronormative forms of sexuality and gender identity, such as lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, etc. The stigma against LGBT+ people can cause long-lasting consequences to these individuals, however one consequence of the stigma is not commonly known; LGBT+ people, specifically youth, comprise a large portion of the homeless population in America. A multitude of studies that have been conducted regarding the high population of LGBT+ homeless youth all present similar findings; the main reason that LGBT+ youth are at the most risk of becoming homeless and comprise a large portion of the homeless population is societal/familial rejection and discrimination, consistently resulting in mental illness and mental health disorders that consistently affect LGBT+ youth for years, and often continuing to affect these individuals well into adulthood.
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Familial rejection tends to be the main catalyst for homelessness amongst LGBT+ youth. According to the report Serving Our Youth 2015: The Needs and Experiences of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning Youth Experiencing Homelessness, approximately 30-40% of youth individuals being served by homeless outreach programs and shelters indentify as LGBT+, not including homeless LGBT+ youth that are not reportedly being served by these programs. (Choi, S.K., Wilson, B.D.M., Shelton, J., & Gates, 2015). These statistics show that LGBT+ youth homelessness makes up a large portion of the homeless youth population, assuming that even more LGBT+ homeless youths exist that haven’t been accounted for by homeless shelters, perhaps due to inaccessibility of homeless shelters that will accept these individuals. As to why these individuals find themselves without homes, family rejection was noted as the top reason for homelessness among LGBT+ youths. Of these youths that were accounted for by the same study above, 68% identified their reason for running away or being forced out of their homes, was due to familial rejection (Choi, S.K., Wilson, B.D.M., Shelton, J., & Gates, 2015).
Familial rejection tends to be borne by parents that harbor preconceived prejudice against the LGBT+ community as a whole and rejection is a very common reaction that many LGBT+ youths receive as a result of their identity. Because most LGBT+ children are born to heterosexual and gender-conforming parents, many of these children recieve negative reactions to their non-conformative sexuality and gender identity, ranging from anxiety for the child’s future to abuse and banishment from their homes (Katz-Wise, S. L., Rosario, M., & Tsappis, M. 2016). Due to early family rejection as a result of social prejudice, these individuals learn to distrust family members, feeling they cannot rely on those closest to them for support. These children often feel the need to escape the source of chronic stress and feel the only way out for them is to leave their homes, either by choice or by force. Transgender women appear to be the most discriminated against by society apropos to seeking shelter. A study conducted by the Center for American Progress and the Equal Rights Center, or ERC, utilized transgender women test-callers to contact 100 different homeless housing programs across 4 states. The study found that of those 100 homeless housing programs, only 30% of respondents were willing to house transgender women in women’s shelters (Rooney, C., Durso, L.E., and Gruberg, S., 2016). Test-callers experienced mainly negative reactions, with one shelter employee making “references to genitalia or to surgery as requirements for appropriate housing” and another being told that she would have to be “isolated or given separate facilities at the shelter” (Rooney, C., et al., 2016).
Many were immediately hung up on or were simply refused shelter, with 34% being either refused or forced to be placed in a strictly men’s shelter (Rooney, C., et al., 2016). This many negative reactions to transgender women as a whole relects the effect that social stigma has against transgender women and LGBT+ people as a whole. Because the discrimination that the test-callers recieved was so common across the total responses recieved, it is apparent that transgender women who are actually seeking shelter often recieve the same response, forcing them to remain homeless and without shelter for longer than non-LGBT+ homeless people. Another article written by Daniel Shoer Roth, details the personal experience being homeless of one transgender woman in Miami. Roth (2017) writes that at age 16, Suarez “could no longer bear the torment of her family’s rejection,” and includes direct quotes from Suarez, saying she’d “‘rather be on the streets’”. For many of these individuals, simply finding a job and working to sustain themselves may not be a viable option. Not only are many of these homeless LGBT+ youth under the legal working age as well as the legal age to rent a home or apartment, but also struggle to find a decently paying job that can pay for rent. According to Roth (2017), the cost of living in a one bedroom apartment in Miami is “impossible to afford'' and that “many LGBTQ young people — and especially our trans youth — often struggle to find affirming employment”. Not only does familial rejection serve as a catalyst to LGBTQ+ homelessness, but societal rejection serves to hinder these individuals’ efforts to overcome homelessness. Comment by Hannah Bertinot: Comment by Hannah Bertinot: Comment by Hannah Bertinot:
As a result of rejection wrought by family and society, LGBT+ people, specifically youths, experience heightened rates of mental illness and distress, often lasting for years after being removed from the source of chronic discrimination and rejection. Studies show that LGBT+ people showed symptoms of mental illnesses, such as “anxiety disorders, self-harm, suicidal ideation, and suicidal behavior when compared to heterosexual youth” as a product of previously experienced societal discrimination or rejection, which causes these individuals to harbor “internalized homonegativity” against themselves, even throughout adulthood (Feinstein, B. A., Goldfried, M. R., & Davila, J., 2012; Russell, S.T., & Fish, J.N., 2016). Hence without proper support offered to LGBT+ youths experiencing discrimination and rejection, mental illness is much more likely to affect these individuals in the future. With homelessness being at such a high risk for this particular population of youths it can be assumed that, with the added struggle of mental illness, LGBT+ youths that do find themselves homeless are at an extreme disadvantage.
In closing, LGBT+ youths are often exposed to many unique hardships specific to their identity in comparison to the general heterosexual population. Of these hardships, societal/familial rejection or discrimination as a whole appear to be the most influential apropos to the mental health and wellbeing of these individuals. Part of societal rejection includes familial rejection, with LGBT+ youths often finding themselves without homes by force or by fleeing the constant emotional abuse, which has been cited as the topmost reason for the high rates of homelessness amongst these youths. Homelessness as a whole is a complex issue that millions of individuals struggle with, however LGBT+ homelessness appears to be exclusive to the long lasting homonegativity that has been instilled in society from centuries ago.
References
- Choi, S.K., Wilson, B.D.M., Shelton, J., & Gates, G. (2015). Serving our youth 2015: the needs and experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth experiencing homelessness. Los Angeles: The Williams Institute with True Colors Fund. Retrieved from https://escholarship.org/content/qt80x75033/qt80x75033.pdf?t=mccan4&v=lg
- Feinstein, B. A., Goldfried, M. R., & Davila, J. (2012). The relationship between experiences of discrimination and mental health among lesbians and gay men: An examination of internalized homonegativity and rejection sensitivity as potential mechanisms. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 80(5), 917–927. Abstract retrieved from APA PsychArticles Database. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0029425
- Katz-Wise, S. L., Rosario, M., & Tsappis, M. (2016). Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth and family acceptance. Pediatric clinics of North America, 63(6), 1011–1025. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pcl.2016.07.005
- Rooney, C., Durso, L.E., & Gruber, S. (2016) Discrimination against transgender women seeking access to homeless shelters. Center for American Progress. Retrieved from www.americanprogress.org/issues/lgbtq-rights/reports/2016/01/07/128323/ discrimination-against-transgender-women-seeking-access-to-homeless-shelters/
- Roth, D. (2017). LGBTQ Youth homelessness in south Florida. Palette Magazine, 13, 38-39. Retreived from https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community /gay-south-florida/ palette-magazine/article153781184.html
- Russell, S.T., & Fish, J.N. (2016). Mental health in lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 12(1), 465-487. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-021815-093153
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