Deadly Hurricane Exposes Dangers of Being LGBTQ and Homeless

[icymist]

There was nowhere for 19-year-old Sean Chavez to go when Hurricane Harvey thundered into Houston less than two weeks ago. The homeless teenager, who is bisexual, sat on a sidewalk drenched in rain. It came down with such fury that it got into his lungs. A sick feeling grew in his stomach. He was getting cold.

“I couldn’t really breath,” Chavez told NBC News. “I was praying I could get a place to get out." Then, he said, a car pulled over and a woman stepped out. She asked him if he had a place to go.

“I told her no, I was homeless,” he recalled. He said the woman handed him a $100 bill and told him to find a motel. He went to a nearby Motel 6, he said, and got a room. He turned on the TV and saw the news.

“There was flooding all over the place,” Chavez said, "and that day I couldn’t leave at all, because it was flooded. I was surprised it didn’t flood into the motel, too.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/hurricane-harvey-exposes-dangers-being-lgbtq-homeless-n799126?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma

[Rhiannon12866]

1. K&R, heartbreaking stories.

And something we don't immediately think of when we think of hurricane victims. Thanks for posting.

[RestoreAmerica2020]

2. Thank you so much for this post. The link gave valuable information on groups who

...support the lgbt community in the Houston. My heart goes out to the young man wth nowhere to go--was sitting by the roadside...praying for a miracle.

I'm checking on local city/state lgbt organizations in my area that are taking donations or may need volunteers. I hadnt realize why homeless lgbt young men and women may not want to seek help from shelters mainly from fear of harm.

[Behind the Aegis]

3. We don't register to many people.

Our lives are unimportant as is our struggles. The scourge of hetero/cis privilege doesn't even seem to register among the minds of many on the left except when we are a "cause" to attack the right. As I get older, I worry what will happen to me and my husband. Homeless people are already vulnerable (look at the asshole who was running them down here in Tulsa (finally caught)), but add the GLBT component, and it gets much worse. It is one of the reasons I support Cyndi Lauper's True Colors Fund, which helps LGBT homeless youth.