Even though I was homeless on the day that I turned 7, I was one of the lucky ones — because I’m still alive to tell the tale.
Not every LGBTQ homeless youth can say that. Many can’t say anything, for that matter. Because LGBTQ youth are 120 percent more likely to become homeless than non-LGBTQ youth, according to Dallas Hope Charities.
These are the ones who can truly be considered the voiceless. Thousands die every year as a direct result of homelessness, but the deaths of our youth have never been accurately reported on.
In the dead of night in Fort Wayne, Ind., my pregnant mother, my little sister and I were fleeing the drug-induced rages of my stepfather.