June is Pride Month, a time to celebrate living openly in one’s affirmed sexual orientation and gender identity. With the U.S. Supreme Court expected to make marriage equality the law of the land any day, Pride 2015 has been a big one! Excitement is in the air, and for good reason! Yet, with all the excitement, it can be easy to look at the recent successes of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) movement and forget that there’s still much to be done.
Here at the True Colors Fund, we’ve been celebrating these successes, while every day furthering our work to end LGBT youth homelessness. New research shows that LGBT youth are still experiencing homelessness at rates much higher than their straight and cisgender peers.
Pride Month is the perfect opportunity to spread the word about issues important to the LGBT community. And throughout the month, we’ve been doing exactly that. Yesterday, our Deputy Executive Director Jama Shelton called for change this Pride Month in her guest blog for the National Safe Place Network. She said:
“This June, I challenge you not only to celebrate, but also to educate within your organizations and communities. Increasing visibility is important, but let’s not stop there. It’s an important first step in creating a safe and inclusive society, but when Pride Month is over and the parades have ended, what will have changed for the LGBT youth experiencing homelessness in your community?”
And earlier in the month, I contributed to the National Alliance to End Homelessness’s Pride series with a investigation into what storytelling has to do with homelessness and LGBT pride:
“To the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) community, an important form of storytelling is ‘coming out.’ Living authentically in one’s affirmed sexual orientation or gender identity often means sharing that story time and time again. And it isn’t always easy.”
And, together with the Williams Institute and the Palette Fund, the True Colors Fund kicked off Pride Month by releasing an updated version of our Serving Our Youth report. The new report features up-to-date findings on the challenges facing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youth experiencing homelessness and the service providers who work with them. Data like this is essential to ensure that the needs of all young people are met.
As Pride Month comes to an end next week, our work will continue. Because it has to. We invite you to join the effort to end LGBT youth homelessness. Stay informed on what we’re up to.