Authentic Youth and Young Adult Partnerships: Broadening the Narrative of LGBTQ Youth Homelessness

Lived experience generates knowledge not available through formal education and training. If lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth and young adults (YYA) experiencing homelessness are to be effectively engaged, their needs met, and their successful transition out of homelessness facilitated, they must be partners in the creation of solutions meant to help them. That means that everyone working to address LGBTQ YYA homelessness – including policymakers, government officials, advocates, researchers, and service providers – need to understand how to partner authentically with YYA experiencing homelessness. This article will introduce a framework for authentic YYA partnerships, describe the philosophy and values underlying the True Colors Fund’s successful partnerships with YYA, and provide examples of how YYA partnerships have informed our work, and as a result the communities we work with. It will discuss how, through the organization’s partnerships with YYA, we have recognized the importance of (1) broadening the narrative about LGBTQ youth homelessness to include the various intersecting reasons LGBTQ youth become homeless and (2) moving beyond a single paradigm of risk/victimization to include resilience and possibility

Trans Adults Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic: Quality of Life, Pandemic Impact, and Vaccine Preferences

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is disproportionately impacting marginalized communities, such as Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC), disabled individuals, and transgender/nonbinary (i.e., trans) individuals. As trans individuals may be multiply marginalized, it is necessary to examine within group differences among trans individuals of different genders, races, socioeconomic statuses, and abilities. This study examines the following research questions: (1) What is the quality of life of trans adults during the COVID-19 pandemic? (2) How does the self-reported impact of the pandemic vary across groups within the trans community? (3) What preferences do trans adults have regarding receiving a COVID-19 vaccine? Survey data were collected in August/September of 2020. Among a sample of 449 trans adults, findings suggest that the profound impact of the pandemic was not consistent across all community members. Being a woman predicted a higher self-reported impact of the pandemic while being a masc(uline) white respondent tended to predict a lower impact of the pandemic. Higher income was associated with a higher quality of life and being a disabled white respondent predicted a lower quality of life. The majority (99%) of the sample reported wanting to receive a COVID-19 vaccine should one become available. Implications for practice include the importance of considering the holistic experiences of clients and community members, as opposed to having homogenized perspectives of even subsets of the trans community. Future research related to barriers faced when attempting to access a vaccine is needed to inform future public health responses to epidemics/pandemics impacting this community.ECU Open Access Publishing Support Fun

The Trans Person is not the Problem: Brave Spaces and Structural Competence as Educative Tools for Trans Justice in Social Work

Social work students must be equipped to confront injustice and oppression. Effectively challenging oppression necessitates attention to the ideological origins and subsequent systematic marginalization of oppressed populations. This article critically examines social work education as it relates to trans people and communities. We propose two interconnected pedagogical shifts for consideration: moving from the social work classroom as “safe space” to the social work classroom as “brave space,” and broadening the commonly used educative method of cultural competence to structural competence. We argue that these pedagogical shifts will better prepare social work students to disrupt cisgenderism and dismantle the gender binary, and to be responsive across multiple axes of power, privilege, and oppression—necessary measures for advancing equity and justice for trans people and communities

Digital Technologies and the Violent Surveillance of Nonbinary Gender

The enforcement of the gender binary is a root cause of gender-based violence for trans people. Disrupting gender-based violence requires we ensure “gender” is not presumed synonymous with white cisgender womanhood. Transfeminists suggest that attaining gender equity requires confronting all forms of oppression that police people and their bodies, including white supremacy, colonialism, and capitalism (Silva & Ornat, 2016; Simpkins, 2016). Part of this project, we argue, includes confronting the structures of gender-based violence embedded within digital technologies that are increasingly part of our everyday lives. Informed by transfeminist theory (Koyama, 2003; Simpkins, 2016; Stryker & Bettcher, 2016; Weerawardhana, 2018), we interrogate the ways in which digital technologies naturalize and reinforce gender-based violence against bodies marked as divergent. We examine the subtler ways that digital technology can fortify binary gender as a mechanism of power and control. We highlight how gendered forms of data violence cannot be disentangled from digital technologies that surveil, police, or punish on the basis of race, nationhood, and citizenship, particularly in relation to predictive policing practices. We conclude with recommendations to guide technological development to reduce the violence enacted upon trans people and those whose gender presentations transgress society’s normative criteria for what constitutes a compliant (read: appropriately gendered) citizen

A Descriptive Account of the Practicum Experiences of Trans and Nonbinary Social Work Students

Current anti-transgender legislative activity necessitates social workers take action in solidarity with transgender and nonbinary (TNB) individuals and communities. Pervasive discrimination and marginalization of TNB people across multiple public domains, including education, is irrefutable (James et al, 2016). Social work education is no exception. Not only is there a documented lack of affirming educational and practicum opportunities for TNB social work students (Austin et al., 2016), social work students also report being ill-prepared to practice with TNB individuals and communities (Craig et al., 2015). Social workers are ethically obligated by their professional identification to demonstrate competency related to service provision with marginalized individuals and groups and to confront oppression and foster social justice, including related to gender identity (National Association of Social Workers [NASW], 2021). Yet, social work educational settings must first reckon with their own cisnormativity and anti-trans bias. Scant research has explored the experiences of TNB social work students, particularly during the practicum experience, termed social work’s “signature pedagogy” (Council on Social Work Edu- cation [CSWE] Educational Policy 3.3, 2022). This paper reports on part of a multi-phase project examining TNB social work students\u27 practicum education experiences

Serving Our Youth 2015: The Needs and Experiences of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning Youth Experiencing Homelessness

This report reviews responses from providers of homeless youth services about their experiences working with LGBTQ youth. Homelessness service providers estimate that sexual and gender minority youth are over-represented among those experiencing homelessness, have been homeless longer and face more mental and physical health problems. Providers were more likely to report that transgender youth experienced these problems at higher rates than other youth.

Trans Adults Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic: Quality of Life, Pandemic Impact, and Vaccine Preferences

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is disproportionately impacting marginalized communities, such as Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC), disabled individuals, and transgender/nonbinary (i.e., trans) individuals. As trans individuals may be multiply marginalized, it is necessary to examine within group differences among trans individuals of different genders, races, socioeconomic statuses, and abilities. This study examines the following research questions: (1) What is the quality of life of trans adults during the COVID-19 pandemic? (2) How does the self-reported impact of the pandemic vary across groups within the trans community? (3) What preferences do trans adults have regarding receiving a COVID-19 vaccine? Survey data were collected in August/September of 2020. Among a sample of 449 trans adults, findings suggest that the profound impact of the pandemic was not consistent across all community members. Being a woman predicted a higher self-reported impact of the pandemic while being a masc(uline) white respondent tended to predict a lower impact of the pandemic. Higher income was associated with a higher quality of life and being a disabled white respondent predicted a lower quality of life. The majority (99%) of the sample reported wanting to receive a COVID-19 vaccine should one become available. Implications for practice include the importance of considering the holistic experiences of clients and community members, as opposed to having homogenized perspectives of even subsets of the trans community. Future research related to barriers faced when attempting to access a vaccine is needed to inform future public health responses to epidemics/pandemics impacting this community

Knowledge and Attitudes about Prep and Npep among a 7-city Sample of Homeless Young Adults

Purpose: Despite evidence suggesting that they are 16 times more likely to become HIV+ than their housed peers, homeless youth have low rates of uptake and adherence to PrEP or nPEP. Notwithstanding the documented HIV risk and the potential for PrEP and nPEP as feasible prevention strategies, little research has been conducted to determine the knowledge and attitudes regarding PrEP and nPEP among homeless young adults. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey (2016–2017) among homeless youth 18–25 years old recruited from drop-in centers and shelters in 7 cities in the United States (New York, St. Louis, Denver, Phoenix, Houston, Los Angeles, and San Jose) to assess knowledge and attitudes regarding PrEP and nPEP to inform HIV prevention intervention development. Results: Participants (n = 1427) were primarily youth of color (37% Black, 17% Hispanic, 16% mixed, 11% other), 32% LGBTQ, male (58%), female (35%), or transgender (5%), with a mean age of 20.9 years. Regarding PrEP, 4% of the sample had talked with their provider about PrEP; while 71% had low to no knowledge of PrEP. Despite no/low knowledge, 59% reported they were likely or extremely likely to take PrEP if recommended by their doctor. Significant knowledge differences were found by gender identity and location; transgender youth reported higher knowledge than cisgender males or females (f = 26.48, p \u3c .01), and youth in Los Angeles and New York reported the highest PrEP knowledge (f = 19.45, p \u3c .01). Transgender youth also reported significantly more interest in PrEP than cisgender males or females (f = 12.15, p \u3c .01), though interest was high in the total sample. Access to free PrEP (55%), HIV testing (72%), healthcare (68%), one-on-one counseling on PrEP use (62%), and text messaging support (57%) were all rated as very important or extremely important for PrEP uptake and adherence among participants. Youth had low rates of post-sexual assault healthcare seeking behaviors when nPEP may be indicated for HIV prevention; 71% of youth did not seek post-assault examination despite 24% of youth being sexually assaulted since becoming homeless. Barriers to post-sexual assault examination included not wanting to involve the legal system (21%), not thinking it was important (17%), not knowing what a post-sexual assault exam was (12%), not having health insurance (11%), or being unable to safely leave the situation (9%). Conclusions: Results of this study suggest several missed opportunities to prevent new HIV infections among homeless youth. Despite the high risk for HIV among this vulnerable population, PrEP knowledge remains low. Though, once informed, interest in PrEP uptake is high. Efforts to increase PrEP uptake and adherence among homeless youth should consider provider and systems level interventions to decrease PrEP associated healthcare costs, improve access to PrEP providers, and provide both in-person and text messaging support. Further, interventions to address the importance of and reduce system and individual-level barriers to sexual assault examinations can improve HIV prevention efforts among homeless youth. Further research is needed to design and test the efficacy of HIV prevention interventions on PrEP and nPEP uptake and adherence among homeless youth

Homelessness and Housing Experiences among LGBTQ Young Adults in Seven U.S. Cities

Research demonstrates the challenges faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) young adult(s) (YA) experiencing homelessness, including preliminary evidence regarding the unique barriers and circumstances of the subpopulations within the broader category of LGBTQ. Few research efforts have investigated the differential experiences between identity and racial subgroups within the population of LGBTQ YA experiencing homelessness, however. This study uses a seven-city sample of 442 LGBTQ YA experiencing homelessness to examine the homelessness and housing experiences of LGBTQ YA—including specific experiences of marginalized and understudied subgroups—and compare these experiences across racial subgroups. Analyses revealed LGBTQ YA most commonly experienced homelessness because they were kicked out/asked to leave the home of their parents, relatives, foster or group homes. This experience was more common among transgender YA. Other differential experiences related to duration of homelessness, discrimination, and stress were reported across subgroups. This study fills a critical gap in the literature by identifying differential experiences of subgroups within the LGBTQ YA homeless population that can better inform program and policy interventions designed to prevent and end homelessness among YA