A Sad Truth

She has been sitting on a secret for years,

Finally she decides it's something she needs to say.

Bracing herself she goes down to the living room,

She looks at both her parents and says, "I'm gay."

Then the yelling and fighting occurs.

This is not something her parents could perceive.

Tears start to run down her face when she hears her dad,

"Pack up your stuff and leave."

She rushes to get her things in a bag as she cries,

Cast out of her house before the age of eighteen.

Where would she go? Where would she live?

Slamming the door behind her, all of this was unforeseen.

Now homeless she was apart of the demographic.

The over 40% of homeless youth in the LGBT+ community.

She didn't know this was 120% more likely to happen to her

That straight, cisgender youth were given a better opportunity.

There is a profound lack of acceptance here rooted in these statistics.

Already more likely to be targets of a hate crime than any other minority group.

Being a black trans-woman she's even more prone to face discrimination.

She had no idea her life could be changed forever in one, misplaced swoop.

A few years pass and she still lives on the streets of a city,

She has become a victim of sexual assault and her mental health has gone down hill.

Two or so friends she made ended up being taken to juvenile justice facilities.

Still not knowing how to rise up from this point, her life is at a standstill.

That is an example of LGBT youth today.

Homeless, discriminated against, unsafe, and loss of hope.

We need to help people understand and accept them, spread information,

And invest in ending youth homelessness, to save them of the feeling of a tightening rope.