Homelessness among LGBTQ youth

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. тАФ In a study by the Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine at BostonтАЩs ChildrenтАЩs Hospital, researchers have found that that 25 percent of gay and lesbian public high school students in Massachusetts were homeless.

The study, published online Thursday, also found that 15 percent of bisexual, and 3 percent of heterosexual Massachusetts public high school students were homeless.

The author of the study, Dr. Heather Corliss, noted that sexual-minority males and females reportedly had a likelihood of a 4 to 13 times greater chance of experiencing homelessness than their exclusively heterosexual peers.

The study, published by the American Journal of Public Health, defines homelessness as having no fixed regular place to sleep with adequate care and or separation from parent/family units or guardians related to discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation.

The report concludes that overall youth homelessness is linked to numerous threats such as violence, substance use/abuse, and mental heath issues.

In an interview Friday afternoon, Corliss told LGBTQ Nation (LGBTQ represents gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning) that the primary concern of Massachusetts health care professionals was that discrimination and victimization related to sexual orientation or gender identity seemed to be following a pattern, that various other studies have documented тАФ showing there are much higher risks based on familial maltreatment among LGBTQ individuals versus those suffered by heterosexual youths.

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