Lgbtq Shelters - Tumblr Posts
If this gets 1000 notes in the next 6 hours I will hand it in as the final part of my advocacy assignment!!!1!1!!
And while I have your attention, here’s some information that I will also be including on the poster (please note that all of this information is Canada-specific):
- 25-40% of homeless youth identify as LGBTQ2S+ (more research is needed to get a more solid stat, so while we’re asking for resources, let’s get some research going too!!)
- In 2015 (the most recent data I could get), about 3% of the population identified as gay, lesbian, or bisexual (https://www.statcan.gc.ca/eng/dai/smr08/2015/smr08_203_2015#a3). It should be noted that this statistic is about people aged 18-59, while ‘youth’ is often defined as younger than 20 or 25, so it’s not especially representative in that respect, but it’s the only stat I could find. Also, although this number doesn’t include all the identities in the LGBTQ2S+ community, it’s still drastically lower than the amount of LGBTQ2S+ youth living on the streets, so it’s clear that LGBTQ2S+ people are way over-represented in the homeless population.
- Many LGBTQ2S+ youth face discrimination in shelters, and would often rather sleep on the streets than put themselves at risk by going to a shelter where they don’t know if they’ll be accepted. Shelters should provide training to their staff so that LGBTQ2S+ youth don’t have to be afraid to go to shelters.
- While there are some shelters that claim to be supportive of LGBTQ2S+ youth, I am only aware of 2 in all of Canada that are specifically for LGBTQ2S+ youth (Egale Center: https://www.egalecentre.ca/updates , and YMCA Sprott House: https://ymcagta.org/news/ymca-sprott-house-announces-lgbtq2sa-youth-housing-services ; this article mentions that there are ‘a handful of other’ programs like these in Canada, but I haven’t found these programs anywhere else in my research. Please add them if you know more). Both of these are located in Toronto.
- Creating LGBTQ2s+ youth shelters is definitely necessary to help all the LGBTQ2s+ youth who are homeless right now, but it is only a band-aid solution. One of the main reasons they are homeless is because of rejection from their families. Long-term, we should also be continuing to educate people on LGBTQ2S+ identities and how to be caring, accepting people so that LGBTQ2S+ youth can feel safe in their homes!
Feel free to add more information!