Mar 16, 2007  |  By: KATHERINE VOLIN  | COMMENTS     

Junior Solorzano was only homeless for one week, but that was enough to expose him to the frightening world of crime-ridden shelters and homophobic counselors.

Solorzano’s mother kicked him out of the house in October of last year after an argument relating to Solorzano’s sexual orientation. Solorzano, who is gay, went to the Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League in Washington for help. Officials there sent him to a local shelter for Latino youth.

It was there that Solorzano says he encountered a system ill equipped to handle the needs of gay homeless youth. 

“I was really traumatized and really shaken up because of everything that had happened,” Solorzano, 21, says. “I was assigned a counselor. … He got there, and he asked me what had happened to me and I told him my situation. His reaction was terrible. He told me there were other places for people like myself.”

Solorzano asked the counselor what he meant.

“‘I understand your mom. I would have done the same thing,’” Solorzano says the counselor told him. “Coming from a counselor, that really hurt and that made me go down the drain. I told him I had to leave.”

After confronting the counselor, Solorzano sought the help of his SMYAL caseworker, who held a long discussion with the counselor. SMYAL later taught a cultural competency seminar for all of the workers at the shelter.

For Solorzano, who remained there for more than a week, however, the damage was done.

“I was really scared after that … I thought I was in a place where I thought I was safe and I wasn’t safe,” he says.

SOLORZANO’S STORY IS not an uncommon one. The National Gay & Lesbian Task Force recently collaborated with the National Coalition for the Homeless to create a report detailing the problem of homeless gay youth. The report stated that homelessness was an “epidemic” among gay youth.

Of the 1.6 million homeless youth, anywhere from 20 to 40 percent are thought to be gay or transgender, according to the report, which would mean that more than half a million gay youth are homeless, with only a handful of shelters sprinkled across the nation designed to aid them specifically.

“This report underscores what many of us have known for a long time,” says Matt Foreman, director of the Task Force, “The national response to this epidemic has been nothing short of disgraceful.” 

Federal funding for homeless youth overall declined by $1.5 million in 2006, says Nick Ray, who authored the study.

“Simultaneously, however, federal funding of faith-based providers has soared even though they are often hostile, if not dangerous, to the well-being of LGBT youth,” Ray says.

Ray found incidents of isolation and stigmatization of gay youth by shelter staff, as well as attempts at conversion therapy in some shelters. Such therapies, which have been debunked by reputable medical associations, endeavor to change the sexual orientation of gays.

D.C. does not offer a homeless shelter specific to gay youth. The nearest gay-specific homeless service provider is in New York City.

“If [gay youth are] homeless, they’re homeless,” says Chris Lane, SMYAL’s acting director of programs. “There’s nowhere that’s specific to gay homeless youth in this city, just your traditional homeless resources that are available to them.”

BEFORE SOLORZANO HEADED to the Latino youth center, he visited a homeless shelter in Anacostia to see if that was a viable option.

“It was definitely scary,” Solorzano says. “It was full of older guys that were in their 50s or 60s that were either drunk [or] high on drugs and it was just a very inappropriate environment for youth, I believe. Youth in general, not just gay youth.”

Solorzano’s experience highlights the barriers homeless gay youth face even if they try to seek help with the aid of youth-oriented agencies.

“I think what happens with that is that some of the youth are not as brave as [Solorzano],” says Lane. “A lot of them tend to feel like they deserve that kind of treatment.”

 That low self-esteem may stem from failed family support for a lot of gay teens. Ray says family conflict over sexual orientation is the primary cause of homelessness among gay youth. Lane added that he has observed peaks in gay youth needing homeless services near the holidays.

“Right around the holidays there’s a lot of anxiety and family around and a discussion might come up about sexuality and kids may get kicked out,” Lane says. “We tend to see a little spike around that time or conversation [with] the youth concerning ‘My parents are not liking my lifestyle’ or whatever and ...