The Ali Forney Center, the nation’s largest organization working on behalf of homeless lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth, today released a compelling new video viewable online in support of the Campaign for Youth Shelter.  The video, outlining the stark facts of the plight of LGBT homeless youth in New York, was released to promote an October 24 rally in Union Square, at which New York’s LGBT community will demand shelter for all youth in the city.  

Watch  video

Among the key points featured in the video:

In New York, an LGBT youth is eight times more likely to experience homelessness than a straight youth.

LGBT youth who are homeless face a significantly higher risk of HIV infection, suicide, and physical and sexual assault than their homeless straight counterparts.

40 percent of all homeless youth in NYC are LGBT, according to a 2008 census conducted by the Empire State Coalition.

Despite the scope of the problem, in 2011, both Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Cuomo have proposed drastic cuts to services for homeless youth.

Said Carl Siciliano, founder and Executive Director of the Ali Forney Center: “We hope that this video will promote awareness of the terrible peril that LGBT youth face when left homeless in the streets. With the recent spectacle of elected officials taking budgetary actions to endanger and abandon homeless youth in New York City, we hope the rally on October 24th will send a loud and clear message that the LGBT community demands that they be protected. No youth should be left in the streets without shelter.”

The October 24 rally will be held in Union Square, beginning at 6 PM.   It is in support of the Campaign for Youth Shelter, and is being planned by representatives from the Ali Forney Center, the Bronx Community Pride Center, Congregation Beit Simchat Torah, Green Chimneys NYC, the Lambda Independent Democrats of Brooklyn, and Queer Rising.

Information on the rally and the Campaign for Youth Shelter online.

The Ali Forney Center (AFC) was started in June of 2002 in response to the lack of safe shelter for LGBT youth in New York City. The Center is committed to providing these young people with safe, dignified, nurturing environments where their needs can be met, and where they can begin to put their lives back together. AFC is dedicated to promoting awareness of the plight of homeless LGBT youth in the United States with the goal of generating responses on local and national levels from government funders, foundations, and the LGBT community.