Corp Comm Connects

There is a ‘heartbreaking’ lack of LGBTQ2S services in York region, study finds

Thestar.com
July 7, 2020
Raneem Alozzi and Miriam Lafontaine

A study of homeless LGBTQ2S youth in York region released on Monday finds many struggle to find inclusive services and that a large portion have attempted suicide in the past year.

The research conducted through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health relied on interviews with 42 respondents: 33 youth between the ages of 13 and 26, and nine employees from organizations serving youth in the region.

Most youth in the study reported being diagnosed by a health-care professional with a variety of mental health conditions, including depression, ADHD and bipolar disorder.

When asked to describe their state over the past two weeks, 71 per cent reported feeling anxious, nervous or on edge nearly every day, and 38 per cent said they had trouble relaxing nearly every day.

Additionally, 74 per cent said they had self-harmed without the intention of suicide in the last year, while more than one in three, 39 per cent, had attempted suicide.

The study also found that 77 per cent of the youths had overdosed and there was a high suspicion of alcoholism in 58 per cent of the youths.

Survey results showed that 28 per cent of participants left home at the age of 16 or younger, though most left at 18. Many cited family conflicts about their sexual identity, including domestic violence, as their primary reason for leaving. Mental health issues, and alcohol and substance use problems, also played into them losing access to housing.

“She (my mom) said that I make her sick to her stomach, and that she wants to throw up because of me, and I put her under so much stress, and that she wants to kill herself because of me,” said one 16-year-old mentioned in the report.

“It was heartbreaking and I didn’t feel safe at home. So that’s when I left.”

Half of the youth interviewed said they had been involved with child protection services earlier in their lives.

While most found shelters, or stayed at the homes of friends and family, 15 per cent said they were forced to sleep outdoors.

Moreover, the study found that many felt they had to hide their identities and were scared of people finding out that they identified as LGBTQ2S, which stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, and two-spirit.

“I’m more comfortable telling people about my heroin addiction than I am telling people I’m gay because you don’t get the same reactions,” a 25-year-old participant named Purple said.

“One of my close friends actually tried to cut my throat when I told him I was gay. I’ve been in a few shady situations in my life where I’ve been stabbed, I’ve been shot, I’ve been lit on fire. As much as I’d love to be one of those people who don’t care what anybody else thinks, people will beat the sh-- out of you,” Purple added.

Youth in the study reported a lack of LGBTQ2S specialized services in York region and even fewer available outside of Richmond Hill. Many expressed the need for more inclusive services, such as support groups and housing programs.

The study also showed many of the participants were unaware of the services and programs currently available in York region due to ineffectual advertising, or faced barriers such as long wait lists, loss of trust in services and difficulties navigating services.

“In Canada, youth homelessness is a pretty big problem, and there is quite a lot of research and a lot of really great work being done around the issue of youth homelessness, but the issue around LGBTQ2S youth homelessness is often left out,” said Alex Abramovich, a scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and co-author of the report.

Over 40 per cent of homeless youth identify as LGBTQ2S, according to Abramovich.

The study focused on York region because of the research gap that exists for LGBTQ2S homelessness in non-urban or semiurban areas, he said.

“I want to make it really clear that this is a very complex issue,” Abramovich said.

Many of the youth have intersecting identities, which can increase the barriers they face in accessing services, he added.

“They might be an Indigenous youth or a youth of colour. And for many of them, they have to pick and choose: am I going to deal with the racism or am I going to deal with homophobia right now? And that’s very sad. It’s very heartbreaking that they’re dealing with so many different forms of discrimination.”

The report, co-authored by Abramovich and Nelson Pang, makes eight recommendations for supporting LGBTQ2S youth in York region: