Video Rallies Support for Homeless LGBT Youth

A new video from the Ali Forney Center, which provides shelter to homeless LGBT youths in New York City, outlines the scope of the crisis and calls on viewers to support the Campaign for Youth Shelter, which will hold a rally this month.

The three-minute video scrolls staggering statistics, including the facts that an LGBT youth in New York is eight times more likely to experience homelessness than a straight youth, and that 40% of the homeless youths in the city are LGBT. Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the state legislature, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg are targeted for having proposed cuts in recent years to services that already provide fewer than 200 beds for an estimated 3,800 homeless youths.

"We hope that this video will promote awareness of the terrible peril that LGBT youth face when left homeless in the streets," said Carl Siciliano, executive director of the Ali Forney Center, in a news release. "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."

A coalition of organizations plans to hold the rally in Union Square in Manhattan. The Campaign for Youth Shelter asks New York State and city elected officials for an additional $3 million per year in funding for the creation of 100 youth shelter beds per year.

LGBT Campaign for Homeless Youth from Ali Forney on Vimeo.