On the night of October 21st, Eddy Theatre became a place for change. A documentary on the experiences of LGBTQ+ homeless youth called A Road to Home (http://aroadtohome.com/) was shown, with various organizations tabling and presentations before, and a panel afterwards. The event was held largely to raise money for a local organization here in Pittsburgh, Proud Haven (https://www.proudhaven.org/), that hopes to open a shelter for LGBTQ+ youth that need a place to go. Currently they provide services to those who need it, but they need to raise a good amount of money still before they can open their own shelter.
Back Row: panel members Joanne Goodall, Ciora Thomas, Grace Enick, Summer Felicity Wright, Kyle Webster, executive committee member Haley Palmore
Middle Row: executive committee members Cat Woodson, Lyss Shorak, Jessica Keller, Kylie Fletcher
Front Row: coordinator Jason Lucarelli
The organizations that tabled in the lobby of Eddy Theatre before the event began were PFLAG, the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh Teen Programming, PAAR, and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. Posters featured in the lobby were created by youth at the GLCC during one of their weekly drop-ins. Assistance for the event was provided by Psi Chi International Honor Society in Psychology, as well as Chatham MSCP alumnus Jason Lucarelli.
I am Vice President of Chatham’s Queer Straight Alliance for the 2016-2017 academic year, so I was able to serve on the executive planning committee for this event alongside so many wonderful advocates for LGBTQ+ youth: Chatham QSA President Kylie Fletcher, CSG Class of 2017 President Cat Woodson, BSW student at Pitt and Intern at the Homeless Children’s Fund Haley Palmore, and Sewickly QSA President Lyss Shorak. Each of us executive committee members gave a speech before the film on “Why I Care…” explaining why we personally felt compelled to work on this event.
Chatham Queer Straight Alliance President, Kylie Fletcher.
Following the executive committee’s speeches was a presentation by Keynote speaker Leigh Bukowski on the connections between negative health outcomes and homeless among LGBTQ+ youth, and highlighting what interventions are most effective. Bukowski received her MPH from Pitt’s Graduate School of Public Health with a certificate in LGBTQ+ Health and Wellness, and has focused her work in this community ever since.
Keynote speaker, Leigh Bukowski.
The film itself followed six homeless LGBTQ+ youth residing in New York City who found a place to stay at the Ali Forney Center, a shelter for LGBTQ+ youth.
After the film was an extremely informative and thought-provoking panel led by Cat Woodson.The panel members were founder of SisTers United and co-chair of Proud Haven Ciora Thomas, litigation attorney and Proud Haven Board Chair of Proud Haven Kyle Webster, Pitt creative writing and computer science student Summer Felicity Wright, Chatham social work student and “We Live Here Too” art exhibit creator Grace Enick, and family nurse practitioner Joanne Goodall.
There were many different topics covered during the panel, though specific panelists has focuses to their responses. Ciora Thomas spoke on the importance of advocacy reaching trans women of color, and helping people of color thrive in their communities instead of trying to pluck them out. Kyle Webster reminded us how crucial it is for Proud Haven to receive donations because it is impossible to purchase a space and build a shelter without money. Summer Felicity Wright explained that often parents or guardians do not kick their children out, but make their living environment so dangerous that they have no other option but to leave, so interventions aimed at these family members may be useless. Grace Enick talked about her work with the Homeless Children’s Education Fund and how great of a resource the organization is. Joanne Goodall provided her perspective as a healthcare worked and how people in her field can be more respectful to
All of the panelists agreed that staff in hospitals and shelters need better training on how to handle interactions with trans individuals. Ciora Thomas specifically emphasized that hospital staff sometimes think it is okay to disclose someone’s status as trans to other staff, even though this is in direct violation of HIPAA. If this happens to you or someone you know, Ciora advised that you address the issue and to not just brush it off. It is also quite common for homeless shelters to not very sensitive during intake of LGBTQ+ individuals or to even be safe as they will house trans women with men. Until homeless shelters become better about these issues, an LGBTQ+ specific shelter such as Proud Haven is absolutely necessary.
If you are feeling inspired to get involved, keep talking about these issues and do anything you can to help organizations like Proud Haven achieve their goals.