Washington D.C. is standing up for its homeless trans youth. With new HUD regulations that ban single-gender shelters from turning people away because of their sexual orientation or gender and the impending opening of the city’s first ever transgender youth focused homeless shelter, there’s a lot to celebrate in the capital. But progress like this is crucial and past due nationwide.
According to the National Transgender Discrimination Survey, more than one in ten transgender people have been evicted from their homes because of their gender identity. As a result, one in five trans people have experienced homelessness. Many of these people are young adults.
Anyone else would simply turn to a homeless shelter, but for transgender people these havens are anything but safe. Fifty-five percent of trans youth who have spent time in a shelter reported sexual harassment, 22 percent reported sexual assault, and 25 percent said that they were victims of physical assault.
Shelter patrons aren’t the only problem—management is prone to discriminate as well. Twenty-nine percent of surveyed homeless trans people reported that they had been denied entrance into a shelter because of their identity.
With the safety nets for trans youth in America as unsafe as they are, it’s crucial for cities across the country to follow Washington D.C.’s lead and support their trans children.
