We do not hear enough about how LGBTQ+ people are more susceptible to being unhoused in Los Angeles. How can we support LGBTQ+ people when they are unhoused?
Ethan Ward is a USC Annenberg alum. He was unhoused for a year just before he transferred to USC. He wrote a three-part series on LAist.com that includes the experiences of LGBTQ+ people who have been kicked out of their homes just for being who they are.
WARD: “I was unhoused in 2017 for a year while I was finishing up my second year of community college, at LA city college. I just did not have money to afford my rent at that point so I made the decision to move into my car.”
One reason that LGBTQ+ people are unhoused comes from family and homophobia that exists within their households.
Mary-Beth Shinn, directs the Center for Evidence Based Solutions to Homelessness at Vanderbilt University. She explains how unhoused LGBTQ+ people face an extra set of challenges.
SHINN: “LGBTQ youth often face challenges from their families and their social networks, whereas everybody who’s experiencing homelessness is facing challenges in affording housing.”
Ethan Ward is able to connect with sources and gain insight into the stories of LGBTQ+ people living on the streets and in shelters because of what he went through.
WARD: “So even with my lived experience in my car, I still feel like I had a bit of privilege that people who don’t have a car or who are forced to be out on the street and be visibly unhoused they don’t have. But it does help when I’m out reporting that I can share that and connect with people, and I do feel like it helps them to be more forthcoming with their stories. So I can, you know, hold power accountable and make sure I’m holding, you know, our elected officials accountable with the policies and decisions that they’re making.”
No matter your sexual orientation or gender identity. Unhoused LGBTQ+ people need resources, support and the basic essentials that we take for granted in society says Ethan Ward.
WARD: “So, one of the people that I interviewed for this series was Mariana Marroquin. She’s the program manager at the Trans Wellness Center for the L.A. LGBT Center. She bluntly told me that they need jobs, resources, people to donate to organizations and actually make sure that the money goes to the community that they are donating to. She was telling me that they need clothing, makeup, hygiene, food. There are a lot of things that she said that we all take for granted that means the world to a lot of unhoused people.”
Homelessness is a temporary state not an identity. It is important how we report these stories and how LGBTQ+ housed or unhoused people are portrayed in the media.
For Annenberg Media, I’m Nicholas Martinez.