Once LGBTQIA youth become homeless, they are at greater risk than non-LGBTQ youth to experience negative physical and mental health issues. Some of the most common are physical and sexual trauma, risky survival strategies such as survival sex, unprotected sex, increased risk for HIV/AIDS, more sexual partners, and more illicit.
LGBTQIA youth experience longer homelessness than non-LGBTQ youth.
Staff from various agencies nationwide participated in a study to identify common gaps within services provided for homeless youth and how the LGBTQIA homeless youth are affected in particular:
A) Housing Services
LGBTQ-specific homeless services have no active funding from the federal government. This causes a primary gap and reasoning for the shelter’s lack of resources geared towards the LGBTQIA community.
B) Educational Services
LGBTQ-specific sex education is significantly lacking. With high rates of risky sexual behaviors like; sexually transmitted infections, survival sex, and general interventions on the subject of sex education for this population. These education services are essential not only to help prevent such risky behaviors but also as necessary information any youth deserves to know regardless of sexual orientation.
Educational programming and materials available to LGBTQIA youth about the General Educational Development (GED) program, and accessibility to test prep and tutoring. Age-appropriate services to help youth reconnect with traditional high schools are also not robust enough as of the currently available resources.
C) Employment Services
Petty cash and general agency funding are important to support LGBTQ youth in working toward their work-related goals. Goals that are only achievable with funding include options such as: enrolling in a vocational certificate program to enhance their job search, purchasing job interviewing clothing, work uniforms, equipment, and or travel funds to go to and fro job interviews and work sites.
D) Family Services
Lack in family-acceptance interventions, bicultural interventions, and preventive interventions. These are especially needed as many LGBTQIA youth become homeless after experiencing familial rejection and eviction from their family homes.
E) LGBTQ-affirming Services
Most programs generally integrate services for heterosexual, cisgender, and LGBTQIA RHYs. Due to this broad approach, there are limited LGBTQ-specific opportunities that exist. LGBTQIA programs that can be of great help if they were more focused are: support groups to work with LGBTQIA youth pre-, during, and post-coming out, groups for transgender youth who might have health or legal needs that are different from other LGBTQIA youth, and pregnancy-prevention services for lesbian adolescents.
Medical Services – Staff reported a lack of LGBTQIA-affirming medical providers who have knowledge on transgender issues, like street hormones and pump parties.
Case Management Services – There is a need for affirming case-management services in order to assist LGBTQIA homeless youth to access needed resources, navigate systems, and available providers that are not discriminatory towards them when they are identified.
Mental Health Services – Staff reported a need for LGBTQ-youth-friendly mental health services. Mental health services for LGBTQIA adults are often more available and there are less mental health services for LGBTQIA youth, especially homeless youth. This can often lead to these youth seeking mental health services from adult-serving agencies which can be extremely intimidating.
F) Cultural Competency Training
There has been a lack of staff training in regards to working with Transgender Runaway homeless youth.
G) Advocacy and Organizing
Staff across multiple organizations have described that there is an importance of enhancing advocacy and organizing needs in smaller communities and rural areas that are unfriendly towards LGBTQIA homeless youth.
