Research Causes of Homelessness Among LGBT Youths (Research Paper Sample)

LGBT Homeless Youth
Student Name
Institutional Affiliation
LGBT Homeless Youth
Introduction
The LGBT community represents people with different sexual orientations, which are unique. For example, the Lesbians, Bisexuals, Gay and the Transgender belong to this community. Homeless Youth in the LGBT community face many challenges which compromise on the quality of their lives. Homeless LGBT youths are homeless because they are marginalized, lack adequate protective policies and family conflicts resulting in living in the streets and failure to attain to full potential. This paper seeks to explore the main causes of homelessness among LGBT youth and the consequences of homelessness to create awareness about the plight of this special class of people.
Causes of Homelessness Among LGBT Youths
Firstly, the LGBT community of youths does not receive enough consideration to ensure that they do not feel marginalized in the society. Many homeless youths with diverse sexual orientations report victimization in homes and schools as a significant cause of homelessness. It is crucial that LGBT youths receive equal privileges and consideration in the schools and homes to enable them to feel like normal human beings (Bidell, 2014). According to a survey done, most homeless LGBT youths experience psychological and ecological distress mostly in high schools and homes leading to homelessness. The LGBT youths face rejection and even discrimination from their family members. They are been seen as not part of the society. This will in turn discourage them and in most cases run away from home rendering them homeless ("LGBT Homelessness - National Coalition for the Homeless", 2018).
Out of the eighty-nine LGBT homeless youth interviewed, about forty percent did not complete high school. Moreover, the majority of the participants never sought support from staff in the school. The study showed that the majority of those reporting psychological distress traced it to harassment back at home. However, the statistics from the study cannot suggest that the annoyance in high schools caused psychological distress (Bidell, 2014). The social stigma received from peers, making fun about unique sexual orientation makes life in institutions of learning difficult. Social workers should find mechanisms of creating public awareness in schools to ensure that LGBT youths receive equal privileges in schools for effective development of personal skills to foster independence and the ability to generate an income, removing the possibility of homelessness ("LGBT Homelessness - National Coalition for the Homeless", 2018). In addition to this, the LGBT youth always face a situation known as transphobia and homophobia. These conditions mainly come from the side of the family members. They are not ready to share the available shelter with these LGBT youths. (The Homeless Hub, 2018).
Secondly, LGBT homeless youths lack adequate protective policies to safeguard their rights to equal treatment in the society. Homeless LGBT youths face neglect, scorn, and derision despite their rights to enjoy basic rights like any other class of people. Although some may claim that having unique sexual orientations is a habit acquired by choice, the argument is not entirely true because there are those who are bisexual anatomically, having both male and female sexual organs. The LGBT community should, therefore, receive state protection through federal or state laws punishing those who infringe on the fundamental rights and privileges of the homeless LGBT youth (Bidell, 2014). Social workers ought to rally behind the protection of LGBT rights to ensure that the problem of stigmatization finds a solution to avert homelessness. The LGBT youths sometimes are forced to leave their homes and settle for streets. This is because the decisions made by mainly their primary caretakers are not in their favor. They view the behavior as immoral and think that the LGBT youths should not live together with the other citizens (Georgia State University, 2014). According to a recent research carried out, the main cause of homelessness among many LGBT youths are normally caused by family conflicts. The youth mostly don’t agree with their parents especially at certain ages. They prefer to leave their home and search for other sources of shelter (Poirier, 2015).
For example, according to a study conducted on thirty-three shelter workers in Toronto, LGBT youths face systematic incorporation of hegemonic masculinity, homophobia, and transphobia. Shelter employees and management treat homeless LGBT youths with suspicion, hampering the accessibility of quality services for the homeless youths. Moreover, the atmosphere in the shelters does not offer the supportive environment required for dealing with the psychological distress emanating from homelessness (2018). At the very least, shelters for the homeless should offer emotional and social support for the homeless LGBT youths to foster quick recovery from the reality of homelessness and to develop personal development. There should be an enactment of the right bureaucratic laws to ensure that homeless youths living in shelters receive adequate physical and psychological support to achieve their goals (Abramovich, 2017).
Thirdly, homeless LGBT youths experience family conflicts due to a realization of their unique sexual orientation. Families have traditions and values which they strive to maintain. Some families do not tolerate homosexuality or lesbianism, considering them as sexual sins. The religious background of various families has a huge bearing on whether the news of a unique sexual orientation will be acceptable (Salgado, 2015). Moreover, families may choose to consider such changes in the normal sexual orientation to be a result of keeping bad company. Also, families with children who belong to the LGBT community place the family in an unfavorable light in the society (2018). Furthermore, parents feel ashamed of their children because of their unusual sexual orientations, piling pressure on the parents and the children. Some of the LGBT youths are not able to stay at home due to some financial issues. They lack money to address their daily needs. This makes them to look for other alternatives resorting into streets (Georgia State University, 2014).
For example, according to an ethnographic study on the processes leading to homelessness revealed that there is a class of youths who become homeless after a disruption of social support mechanisms due to state systems placement. Also, some youths become homeless after a confrontation with parents and other family members due to their unique sexuality (Castellanos, 2016). The revelation of unique sexual orientation often sparks disintegration in the family where some family members might be comfortable with the news while others consider the LGBT community to be a disgrace. Social workers would do well to mediate and restore peace in families separated over the LGBT issue to avoid homelessness of victimized youth (Ream & Forge, 2014). The LGTB youths may sometimes run away from their families in order to escape the harsh and fair treatment. They however don’t find anywhere safe to live within their community. The communities are discriminative against such youths. In order to avoid all these troubles, they prefer to live on streets (Poirier, 2015).
Consequences of Homelessness among LGBT Youths
Firstly, homelessness causes youths to find their way into the streets in a bid to survive. Life in the streets causes youths to adapt in ways that defy the conventional preparation received through school systems and training in sheltered families. For example, youths tend to ensure the protection by having a reputation of violence in a bid to scare away dangerous people (2018). A research current conducted showed that there are no proper programs set in place to help the LGBT youths. These youths therefore are not provided with the necessary resources that are being provided to other homeless families. They even lack some basic facilities such as shelter and clothing’s (Poirier, 2015). Unfortunately, life on the streets for LGBT youths is full of exposure to harm and danger. Homeless youths in the New York City have limited experience with strong drugs, alcoholism and sex work. Moreover, LGBT who are homeless experience higher risk of issues of mental health compared to heterosexual youths. A study showed that twenty percent of homeless intakes had a diagnosis of bipolar disorder in a youth emergency home in 2007 (Ream & Forge, 2014).
Secondly, homeless youths fail to meet their potential in life, ending up as burdens to the society instead of being the drivers of the economy. In Chicago, LGBT youths in the streets represent forty percent of the total population of homeless individuals in the city. The statistics show that many LGBT youths experience homelessness, exposing them to continued conflicts as homeless individuals. Often these youths hop from one home to another in search of shelter and support. Unfortunately, many of the LGBT youths receive sexual assault when young adults are forced to put up with adults in shelters once those for youth become congested. For example, Trans females placed among men receive sexual assault (Salgado, 2015). These individuals suffer from victimization. To add on th...