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Loading ...‘These kids are invisible’: An LGBT youth shelter in words and pictures
Are there any nights of the week that are any busier than any others here?
You never know. Full moons maybe.
Yeah, I mean… there was a huge fight yesterday between some homophobic Covenant House [the Catholic-run “mainstream” youth shelter on 41st Street] kids and our kids, because the Covenant House kids had attacked one of our trans girls the night before, and they cut her face.
Then last night like four or five of our kids went over and took on like 12 to 15 of their kids – and won, but came back a little battered. So it’s just been really… we’ve had all kinds of weird things happen.
As if on cue, a tall and gorgeous young trans girl approaches, wearing large dark shades a la 1970s Jackie Kennedy. This is Kenyatta, who’d been attacked a few days earlier by the Covenant House gang.
“Kenyatta, I know I need to write that letter for you,” says Kate, who then quickly tells the story of the beating to a horrified volunteer. Kenyatta removes the sunglasses to reveal that not only has her face been cut, her nose has been broken too, and she hasn’t been to see a doctor yet.
“Medicaid should pay for the surgery if I just tell them what happened,” says Kate. “And if I can find her birth certificate.”
With it being so difficult to get funding, and even shampoo and socks and things, do you just feel like these kids get forgotten?
Oh definitely. They are so invisible, partly because they work really hard to be invisible. They don’t want to look homeless.
And people who donate stuff tend to be well off, so the kids often are wearing designer clothes and stuff, and so they really don’t fit people’s stereotypes of what a homeless person is supposed to look like.
Is there any one major reason you think the kids wind up here, or is it a combination of things?
I think more than anything else it’s a combination of homophobia and poverty.
You know, you could ask, ‘Why do we get so few white kids, why do we get so few middle class kids.’
Many of our kids, even before they came out, their families were falling apart, and that’s a direct result of poverty and the lack of support for poor families in the U.S. today.
Dinner is served, and a volunteer approaches Kate to ask how to best deal with dessert: Is it okay to just leave cookies out on the counter? “I would suggest you serve the cookies, because otherwise the quiet kids won’t get any,” counsels Kate. “Bacon is the same way. It has to be distributed.”
How do the kids hear about Sylvia’s Place? Is it just word of mouth?
Well, we have had police cars drive up and drop kids off. I get calls from rehabs and psych wards, you know, like, ‘This kid’s not crazy, just gay – so can you take them?’ We get calls from schools. And the kids find each other, of course.
But we also, like I got a call from a gay organization that deals with immigration issues, and they had a Senegalese refugee, a transgender kid – from Senegal, who spoke no English, only French, and had nowhere to go – so we took her. You know, it’s really diverse… and also now the internet. I’ve definitely had kids, especially from other states, show up here having read about us on the internet.
If people want to donate, should they contact you directly?
They should go to our website, homelessyouthservices.org, where there are ways to donate and to volunteer. We always need more hands, because it’s really very much a grassroots effort here. So anybody who is able to do anything is more than welcome.
Dan Allen is the Manhattan-based author of The Out Traveler Guide to New York City. He is a regular contributor to The Advocate, Out, The Out Traveler, Logo’s TripOut, The Miami Herald, and many other publications.
Lucky S. Michael’s book of documentary photos of Sylvia’s Place is called Shelter.
i would like to take in the kids who r homeless because they r gay. i am gay but when i told my parents they accepted me and they told me they will always love me no matter wat i am. i feel sorry for these kids and it makes me want to cry!!!!
I appreciate your comments on not wanting to be involved with religous groups. I was raised in a fundamental type church that seperated me from my family for decades. I know the damage they can do to the average LGBT child (person) however please understand that according to this hart breaking article it is MCC Metropolitan Community Church
founded by the GAY REV Troy Perry. I have met him on a number of occations, and use to attend his first church in L.A
when I lived in California.
This is not your run of the mill evangelical type church. This was the first church that was founded for gays primarily. I remember how nice it was to be able to go some where and be a part of something that was not a bar or park or a bath to meet other gay folks. The message was and still is very positive and very embelishing to the gay community and their needs.
This is the last place that would do anything to harm the community.
My point is if you can donate to this so needed cause, please do so and know that any item or money you donate will make life a little bit more tolarable in a world that is still so crule in many ways.
In this case I deeply hope you reconsider.
You besurprised what org. support & don’t support, in some way gay org.As Salvation army doesn’t.I sure most don’t know this.Is as some who work there.But some still help reguardless of orders of the ignoranting laws.
Hubs has like 50 pairs of size 13 mens shoes, so some of those are going. Some other stuff, if I can find anything useful in the garage.
The ONLY reason I’m giving is because these kids are working and in school.
Gay, straight, or whatever…I have no deep abiding need to help people just sitting on their butts whining.
I agree with brad – no way i would ever consider giving money to an organization affiliated with “god” or “jesus” regardless of who they are trying to help. They do too much damage in the process by spreading their religious ideology to others like a disease. No money from me – I only donate to secular organizations.
I’m am almost 30 now, but I was homeless when I was 19 because of family issues. I cried so much reading this article. Luckily, do to my own strength and a local church that helped me, I have turned my life around. I finished community college, now have an AA degree in graphic design, my own apartment, and a wonderful boyfriend. I will be sending a donation to help out as much as I can for the next person who needs it.
Thank you for this story. It makes me want to go right there and help raise money. If I’d come out as trans as a youth, this could easily have been me.
Sonam Ben
We’re getting involved and we have no intent on pushing religion. This isn’t a faith issue, it is a humanity issue. We’re shipping out 500 toothbrushes today. More support will follow.
Archbishop Simpson
Benedictine Order of St. John the Beloved
Brad, and others in the queer community who share his view ~
Your willingness to help the kids at Homeless Youth Services and Sylvia’s Place is admirable. And, the aversion you express toward MCCNY and all things god/faith-related is an understandable one for anyone in the queer community who has faced the kind of persecution we have from religious folk.
However, the reality on the ground here in New York City, and frankly around the globe, is that mainstream (straight) society doesn’t care about these kids (as this article points out) and the non-faith-based queer community isn’t doing much of anything to address their considerable needs. The additional reality is that it’s the queer people who attend MCCNY (like Lucky, like me) and our allies – both queer and straight, people of faith and atheists, agnostics and secular humanists – that are making a difference in these kids’ lives through the valuable work that Homeless Youth Services does.
No one at MCCNY proselytizes these kids. Ever. Instead, the services there provide them food, clothing, shelter and refuge from a world that’s largely hostile to them.
Brad, you and others, might also be interested to know that one of the biggest barriers we face to fund-raising is the anti-faith sentiments of the queer community. I hope you won’t let that stand in the way of helping these kids.
Peace,
~ Jessie
The book “Shelter” can also be obtained by calling MCCNY at 212-629-7440… 100% of the proceeds go directly to MCCNY Homeless Youth Services to benefit our shelter program.
I would have to disagree with that comment Mike in Boston: If you want to help someone why do you need to acknowledge GOD? Im an atheist and found that the religious bible thumpers have ruined the whole bunch and left an awful nasty taste in mouth. Religion needs to get pushed back into the closet and not stop telling people how to live. That goes for Catholic/Muslim/Evangelical….etc
Great story!
These are our kids people and why every successful gay man or lesbian out there isn’t donating is beyond me.
Why are shelters like “Sylvia’s Place” struggling?
Even though I don’t have any money, I’m making a donation now. I hope everyone else who has read the article does the same.
Brad, although I’m an agnostic who has also been “burned” by religious folks, I’m not going to punish these kids in need.
MCC is one of the most liberal, gay-friendly churches out there. You should read a bit more about them.
My rule is, if the work they are doing is good, and no one else is doing it, I don’t care if it’s a religious group or not.
Not person of faith is an enemy of the queer community, Brad, and it doesn’t help our cause (GLBT equality), nor does it help these kids in need, for us to continue to treat all people of faith as the enemy.
So, go ahead and help these kids anyway, regardless of the group doing the helping. You can even include a note with your donation, saying it is coming from someone who is not a person of faith, but that you still understand the work they are doing is good.
Oh Dear!
I want to help these kids, I want to help the TG people find shoes to fit. I want to ship a printer all the way from Canada.
Here is the problem, when I google “MCCNY”, I see links that say “reconnect with God ” and “join a community of faith”. These links provide more than enough evidence to me that my donations are going the wrong way.
Please find a way to keep God and Faith out of it and the international queer community will give.
I have been hurt way too many times by those of faith to give to an organization who promotes it.
Good luck to you, I want to give but will not support any organization based in faith.
I just can’t give to LGBT’s with “Faith” on their side and I feel bad, I want to help those kids.
Be good, I will help you when religion is not part of the equation.
Wow, that was a powerful story…I had to hold back tears. The youth of today need that kind of love and support from all adults…I am just speechless to think of anything else to say.