That’s the findings of a survey carried out by the Empire State Coalition of Youth and Family Services and released earlier this year. What makes that particular number so staggering is that it’s 30% of the 3,800 total young people under the age of 24 who are living without a home on any given day and it’s ridiculously disproportionate to the total number of GLBT people who are living in New York City.

The report also found that oftentimes GLBT youth (as many as one-fourth) are kicked out of their homes when their parents find out about their sexual orientation.  Many more gay youths experienced violence during the process of coming out and felt they had no option but to run away.

And what does that leave these kids with?

While many homeless youth go to city shelters 42% end up sleeping in the streets or on the subway. Many young people “couch surf” – staying with friends or sex work clients so they won’t have to sleep on the streets. This makes counting these kids harder as youth homelessness isn’t as clear-cut as adult homelessness… many of these kids have become so adept at blending in that the average person wouldn’t be able to pick them out on the street.

Once homeless, these young people are more vulnerable than their peers to problems of mental health, substance abuse and sexually transmitted diseases.

So what can we do?

We can begin by meeting the immediate needs of these kids. You can visit web sites like the National Coalition for the Homeless to make a donation or find a local agency if you live in a city.  If you see a kid who’s obviously hungry don’t be afraid to buy him a sandwich. Treating the homeless as though they’re invisible is no way to help.

Raise awareness of the homeless problem here in America. We seem fond of supporting the orphans of other countries (and I think this is a worthwhile cause) but we neglect – or don’t want to see – the problem in our own backyard.  The statistics I offer in this entry are for New York City alone… the problem is across the country and in small towns.

Finally, specifically to the GLBT youth on the streets – we need to stop demonizing homosexuality so that the next time a teenager has the courage to come out to his/her parents the initial reaction will be one of support and not fear.  We have to stop encouraging violence against this population and pass legislature that will show we have no tolerance for this.