Journal
JOURNAL OF HOMOSEXUALITY
Volume 63, Issue 5, Pages 601-632Publisher
ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
DOI: 10.1080/00918369.2015.1111108
Keywords
Adolescent development; disclosure; family conflict; gay youth; housing instability; latino youth; risk factors; sexual orientation; youth homelessness
Funding
- NIH at Columbia University [MH071430]
- NIDA at NDRI [T32 DA007233]
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Despite the overrepresentation of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) youth among the homeless, the processes leading to their homelessness are understudied. This ethnographic study sought to elucidate the role of sexual orientation in the pathway to housing instability among young gay men. Fieldwork included 18 months of participant observations in public spaces and at a homeless LGBT youth organization in New York City, as well as formal semistructured interviews with 14 Latino young men and five staff. Three distinct pathways emerged. Some youth became homeless after placement in state systems of care disrupted their social support systems, while others became homeless after extreme family conflict over sexual orientation. Nonetheless, most youths became homeless as a result of long-term processes of family disintegration in which normative adolescent development and disclosure of homosexuality exacerbated preexisting conflict. These findings suggest the need to examine the accumulation of risks before disclosure exacerbates family conflict and increases their risk of homelessness.
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