Gay and transgender teens find refuge at home created for them

[Shana A]

Gay and transgender teens find refuge at home created for them

By Theresa Vargas, Published: May 21

http://primary.washingtonpost.com/local/gay-and-transgender-teens-find-refuge-at-home-created-for-them/2011/05/11/AFir1k8G_story.html

In Room 8, the carpet is stained and the walls are bare, except for strips of tape that once held someone else's photos. But to the 21-year-old getting dressed this morning, the room offers a measure of freedom she has never had: a place where, without judgment, she can slip on a flower-print blouse and shave her face. A place where no one knows Guy Jones, only Sarah Feliciano.

"How does this look?" Sarah asks, sweeping a cobalt blue powder over her eyes. Foundation the color of "soft copper" covers the rest of her face, hiding any hints of a shadow that monthly laser therapy and a daily shave might have missed.