Help Out Homeless Transgendered Youth This Holiday Season
StoppingTheHate.com (http://www.stoppingthehate.com/News-Article161-Help-Homeless-Transgendered-Youth-This-Holiday-Season-By-Allanah-Starr.htm)
Allanah Starr
11/24/2008
Did you know that it is estimated that of all homeless youth in NYC, 60% identify as Trans, Lesbian, Gay, or Bisexual?
Some of these kids come from out of state to NYC, chasing the dream of just being themselves. Many are discarded by their parents for being Trans or gay. Some have suffered physical and sexual abuse, often from members of their own families. So yes, they leave home or are tossed out. Constant verbal and physical abuse at school drives them from there, as well.
No family, no school. Imagine you are 15, 16 or 17. No money, no family, big city, its' cold, and you are hungry and no place to go. Hunger and cold drives people to do things they would normally never do. Prostitution very quickly becomes the means by which these young people survive.