In the United States today there are 1.6 to 2.8 million homeless people under the age of 18 and 20 to 40 percent of them are members of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Queer Intersex Asexual (LGBTQIA) community. Society has begun to open up to the idea of being transgender, gay, lesbian, or bisexual with role models such as Lavern Cox, Caitlyn Jenner, Jane Lynch, and Neil Patrick Harris. When kids see people in the media being accepted, it allows them to identify with these role models and they begin to accept their feelings of sexual attraction or sexuality. The issue is parents can be far less accepting than the media leading to young kids running away at earlier ages. Younger coming out ages, coupled with parental rejection, lead to high-risk behavior for LGBTQIA homeless youth. It would appear that in recent years there have been societal shifts in the way people view the LGBTQIA community. Once considered highly taboo, it has become a norm in American society. With a 5-4 Supreme Court ruling on June 26, 2015, gay marriage has become legal in all 50 states. There are openly gay characters on television (i.e. Modern Family, Orange is the New Black, and Grey’s Anatomy) and kids of a new generation are being brought up to accept this as a reality. Unfortunately, for most it is just a fantasy. Thirty years ago when the average age range for coming out was in the early twenties today the average age is around sixteen. This is not a coincidence. Kids are not just starting to realize their sexuality younger but rather they are able to identify and feel comfortable expressing it. Take for example New York Times writer Benoit Denizet-Lewis who talks personally about his coming out experience when he was in his early twenties. Denizet-Lewis states in an interview with NPR “Well, I'm 34 and noticed same-sex attraction pretty early, right about when the studies sort of show, 10, 11, 12, … I didn't feel like I could talk to my parents. So, you know, consequently I sort of went in denial mode, which is what a lot of gay kids have done for many years,” He continues on to discuss how this affected LGBTQIA dating life since his generation missed those crucial teen dating years. ("Gay Youth Coming Out in Middle School." ) The question is not how early coming out age is affecting our youth but rather the parents of said youth.
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Parents are from a different generation they did not grow up in an accepting world. Taught to judge the different parents are having a hard time tolerating their children who identify as LGBTQIA. According to the LGBT Homeless Youth Provider Survey, forty-six percent of youth run away because of family rejection while forty-three percent cited being forced out of their homes by parents (Cray, 11). This environment of an intolerant family causes youth to make the decision of living on the street or dealing with the hostility of an intolerant home life. There are also parents who will support them up until the point of legal adulthood (age 18) and then cut them off financially (Nolan, 388). Illustrated in a young African American lesbian women’s story is a prime example of parental rejection is. Her name is Janine and her mother was her primary caretaker but was severely homophobic throughout Janine’s childhood. Janine did not come out willingly to her mother. During her late teens, her mother discovered love letters written by Janine’s girlfriend. Her mother reacted by reading bible verses, harassing her verbally, and threatening to kick her out. She was forced out of her home when she finished high school. With no support financially …show more content…
They see it as being accepted in society yet not in their home. With legislation protecting the rights of members of the LGBTQIA community being passed each year it appears that America is making progress. However, to look in the face of 350,000 youth living on the street it is hard to recognize the progress taking place. New groups such as The Zebra Coalition and National Coalition for the Homeless have recognized this problem and began to take steps to improve it. This provides hope for those rejected teens that one-day they will find a loving home regardless of
Parents are from a different generation they did not grow up in an accepting world. Taught to judge the different parents are having a hard time tolerating their children who identify as LGBTQIA. According to the LGBT Homeless Youth Provider Survey, forty-six percent of youth run away because of family rejection while forty-three percent cited being forced out of their homes by parents (Cray, 11). This environment of an intolerant family causes youth to make the decision of living on the street or dealing with the hostility of an intolerant home life. There are also parents who will support them up until the point of legal adulthood (age 18) and then cut them off financially (Nolan, 388). Illustrated in a young African American lesbian women’s story is a prime example of parental rejection is. Her name is Janine and her mother was her primary caretaker but was severely homophobic throughout Janine’s childhood. Janine did not come out willingly to her mother. During her late teens, her mother discovered love letters written by Janine’s girlfriend. Her mother reacted by reading bible verses, harassing her verbally, and threatening to kick her out. She was forced out of her home when she finished high school. With no support financially …show more content…
They see it as being accepted in society yet not in their home. With legislation protecting the rights of members of the LGBTQIA community being passed each year it appears that America is making progress. However, to look in the face of 350,000 youth living on the street it is hard to recognize the progress taking place. New groups such as The Zebra Coalition and National Coalition for the Homeless have recognized this problem and began to take steps to improve it. This provides hope for those rejected teens that one-day they will find a loving home regardless of