For more than three decades, our San Diego LGBT Community Center has provided a safe haven for our community. While The Center has certainly changed over the last 30-plus years, we still follow that original vision and mandate to care for our all in our community.

To that end, three years ago – with the leadership and vision of Dr. Heather Berberet, Rev. Tony Freeman, Councilmember Toni Atkins and Jennifer LeSar – The Center and the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) began to discuss the issue of homelessness among our youth.

We were quickly joined by community experts and program collaborators, including Cesar Portillo, Laura Mustari, Ken Tyner and the YMCA; Mindy Watrous and Walden Family Services; Rev. Dan Koeshall of MCC; and ultimately Jan Stankus and SDYCS, and Al Killen-Harvey and Children’s Hospital Chadwick Center. A needs assessment was commissioned and funded with the help of Benjamin F. Dillingham Community Grants; Benjamin F. Dillingham, III; Brians’ American Eatery; Carol Bittman and Anita Gibbins; Gerald Micklos; Glenn Krasinski; Cesar Portillo; the San Diego Human Dignity Foundation; the Weingart Foundation; James Ziegler and many, many others.

One of the most stunning – and devastating – things about this study was that it took just four months to identify more than 400 homeless LGBTQ youth. The needs assessment confirmed what the Hillcrest Youth Center staff continues to see every day: There are hundreds of homeless LGBT youth on our San Diego streets and too few programs designed to address their needs.

Most of these youth said they didn’t utilize other services or had difficulty when they did because of their sexual orientation, gender or HIV status. In order to protect themselves from discrimination from providers or violence from other youth service recipients, many said they felt the need to hide the truth about who they are. With this new project, we will begin to help change that.

Youth described surviving on the streets by begging for money, “dumpster diving” for food, or trading their bodies for money or simply a warm place to sleep. Of the youth who exist on the streets, nearly 20 percent are HIV positive, without medical care or access to services. At least 15 percent have been victims of sexual abuse at home, and nearly 40 percent of these youth were kicked out of their homes because of their sexual orientation.