When youth are kicked out or forced to leave home for reasons beyond their control, they are suddenly faced with the stress of street life: finding safety, shelter, and food, often while coping with intense feelings of rejection, trauma, and fear.
Although services for homeless youth seek to offer support, a number of LGBTQ youth report conflicting experiences, such as homophobic and transphobic violence within services. Homeless youth experience significantly higher rates of criminal victimization than housed youth (O’Grady & Gaetz, 2004).
These rates are higher again for LGBTQ homeless youth, who experience daily incidents of homophobia and transphobia (Dunne et al., 2002; Van Leeuwen et al., 2006). LGBTQ homeless youth are also at greater