Coming Out to the Streets: LGBTQ Youth Experiencing Homelessness

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) youth are disproportionately represented in the U.S. youth homelessness population. In Coming Out to the Streets, Brandon Andrew Robinson examines their lives.

Based on interviews and ethnographic fieldwork in central Texas, Coming Out to the Streets looks into the lives of the LGBTQ youth before they experience homelessness-within their families, schools, and other institutions-and how they later live on the streets, deal with police, and navigate shelters and other services. Through this documentation, Robinson shows how poverty and racial inequality shape how the LGBTQ youth negotiate their gender and sexuality before and while they are experiencing homelessness. To address LGBTQ youth homelessness, Robinson contends that solutions need to move beyond blaming families for rejecting their child. In highlighting the voices of the LGBTQ youth, Robinson calls for queer and trans liberation through systemic change.