With school closures, reduced services at LGBTQ community centers and a lack of family support, the coronavirus pandemic has left LGBTQ homeless youth particularly vulnerable.
Finding a secure place to live has not been easy for 23-year-old Nez Marquez, who has experienced homelessness for the past five years. Born in Mexico and raised in New York, he said he left home at 18 because his family did not accept his gender identity and sexual orientation.
Marquez is now staying at Sylvia’s Place, an emergency shelter for LGBTQ young adults located on the bottom floor of a Manhattan church. He said shelters that specifically cater to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people are safer for him, because he has been subjected to homophobic attacks at general-population shelters. But now, in addition to anti-gay violence and the inherent dangers of life on the streets, Marquez has another fear: the coronavirus and its ripple effects.
Nez Marquez, 23, is staying at Sylvia's Place, an emergency shelter in New York City for LGBTQ teens and young adults.“I’ve been worried about not having housing,” Marquez told NBC News. “If where I’m staying shuts down, I’ll be out of options.” Not only does he worry about being “forced to live in a homophobic environment,” but he also has a congenital lung issue, putting him at higher risk for adverse outcomes if he were to get COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus.
LGBTQ youth and young adults, like Marquez, make up a disproportionate number of homeless young people, and this vulnerable demographic is facing unique hardships amid this global health crisis. With countrywide shutdowns of schools and youth programs, diminished office hours at LGBTQ community centers and, for many of them, unsupportive family members, these young Americans and the organizations that serve them are forced to find new ways to receive and provide support.
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