For the 2009 Homecoming Pride Festival Parade, Freedom Centre collaborated with Step1 to make the statement “Homecoming… Not for the Homelessâ€.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth are overrepresented in the homeless population. According to a growing body of research and study, a conservative estimate is that 1 out of every 4 homeless young people are LGBT. This is greatly disproportionate to the estimated percentage of LGBT young people in the general population which is somewhere between 4 and 10 percent (1.)
On any given night there are approximately 19 000 young homeless people in Australia. It is estimated that between 26% to 34% of these are same sex attracted. (2)
That’s at least 5000 LGBT Australians on the street every night!
LGBT youth are not only overrepresented in homeless youth populations, but reports indicate that while living on the streets, LGBT youth are at great risk of physical and sexual exploitation. LGBT homeless youth are also more likely to attempt suicide (62%) than their heterosexual homeless peers (29%). (3)
If you know any young people who are at risk of homelessness, contact one of these services;
Step1 Street Work project @ Anglicare WA
A GLBT friendly outreach service for young people who are homeless.
Office Ph: 9325 7033
Mobile: 0418 942 475
Anglicare WA
Geoffrey Sambell Centre 23 Adelaide Tce
Freedom Centre @ WA AIDS Council
A safe social space for LGBTIQQ young people to get peer support, information and referrals.
www.freedom.org.au
Freedom Centre Tel: (08) 9228 0354
Admin / WAAC Tel: (08) 9482 0000
Freedom Centre Address: 93 Brisbane St. Northbridge PERTH WA 6000
Perth Inner City Youth Services (PICYS)
A GLBT friendly medium-long term accommodation service for young people
Phone: 9388 2792
(1) Dempsey, Clets L. 1994 Health and Social Is-sues of Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual Adolescents
(2) Irwin, Winter et al. 1995 Australian Centre of Lesbian and Gay research, University of Sydney. As Long As I’ve Got My Doona.
(3) Van Leeuwen, James M et al. 2006 Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Homeless Youth: An Eight CityPublic Health Perspective. Child Welfare 85, no. 2:151-170.
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