Learning from the Field: Listening Tour of Programs Serving Youth who are LGBTQI2-S and Experiencing Homelessness (Draft)

Every year, an estimated 575,000 to 1.6 million unaccompanied youth between ages 12 to 17 experience homelessness in the United States.4 It is estimated that between 20% and 40% of youth experiencing homelessness identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, intersex, or two-spirit (LGBTQI2-S).5 Gender and sexual minority youth experience multiple risk factors contributing to homelessness, including family conflict, abuse, mental illness, neglect, poverty, and abandonment. Family conflict is the primary cause of homelessness for all youth, both heterosexual and LGBT, but among LGBT youth, family conflict is often related to their sexual orientation.6 Twenty-six percent of LGBT youth report being forced from their home upon revealing their sexual identity to their parents.

Publication Date: 
2011