Coming out early: the fight to help LGBT youth

[WillParkinson]

Coming out early: the fight to help LGBT youth

Dr. Robert Reid-Pharr was in New York City walking his dog one morning when he was approached by a young black teenager. He appeared to be 15- or 16-years-old with slightly feminine mannerisms, Reid-Pharr said later. He propositioned the professor: sex in exchange for food. Like so many other homeless gay youth in New York City, the young man in front of Reid-Pharr has resorted to prostitution in order to survive.

Reid-Pharr, a critical essayist and professor at the CUNY Graduate Center, turned him down.

“I asked him what he was doing and he said his mom was addicted to crack. He had been out all night because there were people doing drugs at his home and he couldn’t stay there,” Reid-Pharr recalled. “He said, ‘usually when guys take me home they give me food first.’”

http://www.365gay.com/uncategorized/coming-out-early-the-fight-to-help-lgbt-youth/

[Meldread]

1. So sad, my heart breaks.

I wish I was extraordinarily wealthy. I'd love to see places that take LGBT youth in really thrive. It would be nice to ensure that all of them could get a quality education and go to college. They could then leave, empowered, and ready to help fuel our movement forward.

Our numbers are so few as it is, and with these poor kids living as they are, it only diminishes us further. We need them, and they need us. It's so sad to see young lives go to waste.