Back from Australia

As you might have guessed from the title of this post, I am 

back in the good ol' U S of A. And also jetlagged and confused. I've either 

been in a plane or in an airport for a good twenty hours today. Nothing feels real.

Before I go into this week's topic, I wanted to add a little to the discussion about Q High.

One N Ten hosts the site, but AZ Virtual Academy provides the classes and the 

teachers (although staff at One N Ten will help tutor). There are more than 130

core, elective, and AP classes available, so yes, the students are able to select from

a wide range of classes and follow their interests (while completing required

courses).  

Since I haven't been at the Youth Center all week, let's talk a little about 

homeless LGBTQ youth. I'll be referencing the research I compiled while planning this 

project.

Unfortunately, LGBTQ youth are over-represented among homeless youth, about 

comprising 9-45% (depending on the context of locality) of all homeless youth while

only 5-7% of the general population of youth, as found by the LGBTQ Homeless Youth Provider Survey (Cray). The most commonly-cited reasons for living away from home,

as reported by the homeless LGBTQ youth, are family rejection and conflict.

The youth seem to feel that they cannot stay at home once rejected, and

43% of the providers that were part of the survey state that youth were forced out

by their parents after coming out. However, the survey found that LGBTQ youth

are less likely to state that they were “thrown out” than their heterosexual and

cisgender peers, instead self-identifying as “runaways,” indicating that while

the LGBTQ youth may not be forcibly removed from their homes on a large scale,

they often feel that the familial conflict leaves them no choice but to leave (Cray).

None of the youth at the Center have spoken to me about why or how they became

homeless, but I'm not surprised by that. It also seems that the older youth

at least are more used to being homeless and just take each day as it comes.

No one should have to feel like this.

The CDC found that a disproportionate number of LGBTQ youth

engage in health-risk behaviors compared to the general population ("Sexual").

Homeless LGBTQ youth are three times more likely to participate in survival sex,

such as trading sex for food or shelter or other basic needs, than their peers,

thus increasing the risk of trauma, violence, rape, and disease (Cray).

I hope I don't need to explain how bad that is.

We can change these statistics by providing more GSA clubs

(some support is better than none, plus it's a nice message that the school

supports all of its students) and other institutional supports.

Youth Centers like One N Ten are doing a great job, but it would be nice

to prevent the homelessness and poor quality of life in the first place.

Sources:

Cray, Andrew, Laura E. Durso, and Katie Miller. "Seeking Shelter - Center for American Progress."

Center for American Progress, Sept. 2013. Web. 7 Nov. 2016.

"Sexual Identity, Sex of Sexual Contacts and Health-Risk ..." Center for Disease Control, 6 June 2011. Web. 3 Nov. 2016.