"Roughly 1 in 4 lisbian or gay teens and 15 percent of bisixual teens are homeless, versus 3 percent of exclusively heterosixual teens, finds a Children's Hospital Boston study of more than 6,300 Massachusetts public high school students. Moreover, among teens who were homeless, those who were gay, lisbian or bisixual (GLB) were consistently more likely than heterosixuals to be on their own, unaccompanied by a parent or guardian."

http://www.childrenshospital.org/newsroom/Site1339/mainpageS1339P751.html

I don't normally post in community discussion, but this was pretty shocking when I read it. Other studies seem to say the same thing, so it's not a one-off result.

The fact that they're gay/lisbian and homeless is a pretty odd correlation. I don't understand how this could be a signficant topic of conversation.

Sadly, I'm not surprised by this. The way people treat others with different sixual orientation is just sad.

Disowned by the family. At least that's what I hear happening in America.

100% of people who are homeless are human beings. I was shocked to hear that

Maybe there is a correlation between homosixuality and homelessness, but perhaps we shouldn't jump to conclusions yet. The economy is rather bad. I don't know what things are like in Massachussets, since those were the students they surveyed. Would there be a similar result in California or Ohio?

Hmm, I never considered that.

Well if that's what it really boils down to, I can't see this thread going anywhere nice.

That was my first thought too.

Most likely they aren't lucky enough to have a supportive family or system, so they just leave. And if they can't find a job, they end up homeless.

Yeah. Although I haven't got too much flak for it elsewhere, I suspect my immediate family are one such example: the reason I say "suspect" is because they were already not speaking to me before I came out, but I think this would be their reaction. I also know of people who are quite accepting... as long as it's not one of their own, but then it can be a very different story.

This thread depresses me.

I find this really sad, I beleve families should have a strong bond reguardless of a person's sixuality. The only time I'd do such an act if my family member was doing something that was harmful to me and it was the only option left.

It's not just an American thing, sadly. Granted, we're in the US, but my girlfriend is Jewish, grew up in Israel, and her father is really homophobic. He hasn't disowned her yet, but that's probably only because her mother is supportive and their relationship is really strained.. He'd probably have a coronary if he knew she was dating a trans girl.

Speaking of which: I find it really unfortunate that this only includes LGB people. The rates of trans poverty(and being disowned, [censored], homeless, suicidal, etc.) is incredibly high.

People eh?

I want my son to be happy.



I'm not about to put any conditions towards that.

I wouldn't consider myself a good parent -or human being- if I did.

I don't think that this is totally caused by parents disowning their children. People that identify themselves as gay, lisbian, or bisixual are more likely to come from urban areas where the homeless rate is higher. They're also more likely to come from minorities, where once again the homeless rate is higher. Without seeing the raw data, we can't really account for these things, but it is safe to say that the amount of homeless teens that identify as GLB isn't simply caused by parents throwing out their kids.

Look it up.

But it does add to it in a disproportionate value.

also in rural areas intolerance for GBL is much higher than in the -more metropolitan- thinking urban areas, where there are also traditionally less minorities than in the (sub)urban areas (except for migrant workers, who migrate, so I 'm including them in the demographic.)

So all in all, you're half right imo..

link it, I'm lazy.

This is why you don't come out to your family until you're able to support yourself independently.

Oh, sure, if you're going to question surveys and such we could all in fact be gay, we just don't know it yet. They're not perfect sources, yes, but they're better than nothing.

But like I said before, I don't think this accounts for all the difference. I just think we can be a bit more optimistic than "Stupid parents, they'd throw out their 6 year old if he/she drew a rainbow!"

As for sources...

"Nonwhites are more likely than white segments of the U.S. population to identify as LGBT. The survey results show that 4.6% of African-Americans identify as LGBT, along with 4.0% of Hispanics and 4.3% of Asians. The disproportionately higher representation of LGBT status among nonwhite population segments corresponds to the slightly below-average 3.2% of white Americans who identified as LGBT."

Source: http://www.gallup.com/poll/158066/special-report-advlts-identify-lgbt.aspx

"Gay people make up 1-4% of the population in most cities, but are more concentrated in metropolitan areas."

Source: http://www.domesticpartnershipflorida.com/gay-facts-statistics-2011/

(Sadly, I can't see to find actual numbers for the urban statements, but I am happy with my efforts)

Is there really enough variance there to be statistically significant, though? Especially in this context.

This is about the entire gay population, and not just gay highschool students, which is not exactly the same. What would more interesting would be to know where the families of gay high school students live, not the students themselves, imo.

edit: also, OP, this study is depressing :/