Ticket to Nowhere
For homeless LGBT teens, life on the streets is especially difficult and dangerous
by Tim Vanderpool

http://www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/ticket-to-nowhere/Content?oid=3474444

But there's a side to this unseen world that's darker still—the taunts, the beatings and the deaths that come with being on the street and being different. In this world, the difference is over something that exists far beyond choice and sheer predilection. It is about being lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender. And if you don't think those folks have tough sledding in America's mainstream culture of institutionalized bigotry, welcome to the streets.

[...]

Hennessy Madrid knows both worlds. At age 25, she's among the survivors.

Madrid left an unwelcome home at age 14. With few friends and no money, she floated into the twilight. She worked as a prostitute, ricocheted among shelters and couches, and lived on drugs. The chaos ended after a weeklong drinking binge when she nearly died.

Today, Madrid, who is transgendered, is slight and well-spoken, with the sad eyes of a refugee. She helps manage the Youth Resource Center, a downtown sanctuary created by a local social-service agency called Open Inn.