News: Counting gay youths who are homeless

Survey could lead to a drop-in center

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Chris Seper

Plain Dealer Reporter

An ambitious plan would document the sexual identities of young homeless people to reach a group advocates say is hidden from society.

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Community Center of Greater Cleveland will coordinate some time this summer visits to homeless hangouts to offer medical referrals and to survey youths ages 14 to 24. Cuyahoga County would provide some money -- as much as $83,000.

Some advocates believe a number of Northeast Ohio's young homeless are gay, at greater risk than many other street kids, and with fewer ways to get help. Based on the new research, the center would consider running a special drop-in center for homeless gay youth.

The study would be among the first in years to examine the issue, said Craig A. Bowman, executive director of the National Youth Advocacy Coalition in Washington D.C., which represents almost 200 lesbian, gay and bisexual organizations nationwide. Research on the subject largely ended in the late 1990s when the gay community shifted its focus to gay marriage and adoptions, Bowman said.

"To me, these are our kids," said Sue Doerfer, executive director of the center. "If we're not going to watch out for them and take care of them, who is?

Street kids are elusive, even in the invisible world of the transient. The Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless estimates there are more than 4,000 homeless people in the region on any given day.

No one is sure how many teens are on their own. Those younger than 18 spurn shelters because they fear county foster care. Some teens subsist by flopping from one apartment to the next -- often trading sex for a place to live.

Flopping also keeps teens under the radar of organizations that define being homeless as sleeping somewhere you usually wouldn't, such as in a car or on the street.

Numbers for homeless youth and homeless gay youth vary wildly. A December study of Illinois' youth homeless by the University of Illinois at Chicago said 10 percent are either gay or questioning their sexual identity. Older studies have put the number as high as 35 percent.

Gay youths often leave home for the same reason as other teens: abuse, depression or drugs. Gay youths are also on the street because families kick them out because of their sexuality.

Advocates have tried addressing security concerns. Brian Davis, executive director for the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless, recommended Cuyahoga County place transgendered individuals, who live as the opposite gender, in hotels away from regular shelters. That hasn't happened.

Doerfer says shelters such as the YMCA's Y-Haven refused an offer to train workers to handle gay residents.

Chip Joseph, executive director of Y-Haven, said there hasn't been a problem for gays at Y-Haven, where he thinks around a half-dozen of his 133 men are gay. "The numbers aren't that big and we seem to integrate gay and heterosexual populations pretty well," said Joseph.

Advocates for the homeless say the center's research project will never get an accurate count of homeless youth. Also, it will be difficult to get a real answer about sexuality from a group who, in many cases, may be deeply damaged or confused about who they are.

But Jim McCafferty, director of the Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services, said he is eager to reach out to homeless youths and believes this will help.

Ideally, he would like to see the gay community work with these teens and explain to them that foster care is a safer and more accepting place than the streets.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:

cseper@plaind.com, 216-999-4169