Politicians, activists blast proposed cuts to NYC’s homeless youth programs

More than half a dozen New York City Councilmembers joined activists and young people on the steps of City Hall on Tuesday, Dec. 21, to blast Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s proposed cuts to programs that support homeless youth in the five boroughs.

City Councilmembers Lew Fidler [D-Brooklyn], Daniel Dromm [D-Queens], Letitia James [D-Brooklyn] and Jimmy Van Bramer [D-Queens] joined Carl Siciliano of the Ali Forney Center, Dirk McCall of the Bronx Community Pride Center and others in lower Manhattan.

“The city knows, the Bloomberg administration knows that every night 3,800 young people are sleeping homeless on our streets—they know this because they released it in their own report,” stressed Siciliano. “The city knows, the Bloomberg administration knows that hundreds of kids have to survive by prostituting every night—they know because they released it in their own report this past June.”

Siciliano, whose organization offers housing and other support services to homeless LGBT youth, said Ali Forney’s clients are disproportionately at-risk for violence, HIV/AIDS and even suicide.

“The Bloomberg administration knows these kids are suffering, and yet they still decided to make these cuts,” he added. “I don’t know to describe this except to say that it shows a reckless indifference to the welfare of children.”

The temperature was in the mid-30s, and the wind chill was in the low-20s during the protest.





City Councilmember Lew Fidler [D-Brooklyn]



City Councilmember Daniel Dromm [D-Queens]



These activists sent Mayor Michael Bloomberg a strong message.



Nathaniel Vanderhorst was among the young people who protested the proposed cuts.

Bloomberg announces appointees to LGBT homeless youth commission

In what arguably was a campaign speech designed to court LGBT voters ahead of this year's general mayoral election, Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced last night at the annual Ali Forney Center fundraiser at the Chelsea Art Museum he had appointed 25 activists and others to the city's Commission for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning Runaway and Homeless Youth.

These appointees include Ali Forney executive director Carl Siciliano, Ana Oliveira, president of the New York Women's Association and former executive director of the Gay Men's Health Crisis, incoming LGBT Community Center executive director Glennda Testone, Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum of Congregation Beth Simchat Torah, Hetrick-Martin Institute executive director Thomas Krevor and Rickke Mananzala, executive director of FIERCE.

“New York City may be one of the most tolerant places on earth, but LGBTQ youth still face daily discrimination that forces many of them to leave home and sometimes make risky decisions,” Bloomberg said in a prepared statement released before he spoke at the fundraiser. “Today we are opening up a new front focused on serving lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning young people. The Commission’s recommendations will address the root causes of homelessness among this population and provide a blueprint for innovative and evidence-based solutions.”

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, comedian Sandra Bernhard and singer Rufus Wainwright were among those in attendance, but this announcement comes nearly a year after the city threatened to slash federal Housing Opportunities for People with AIDS (HOPWA) funds that the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene had awarded to Ali Forney to operate its Chelsea drop-in facility. The City Council unanimously voted in December to restore the organization's HOPWA funds.

In spite of these cuts, Quinn praised the committee appointees.

“LGBTQ runaway and homeless youth face a unique set of challenges – from greater exposure to HIV/AIDS – to being ostracized by their families and communities,” Quinn said. “The group of experts serving on the New York City LGBTQ Runaway and Homeless Youth Commission give me great hope that we will be able to develop innovative solutions to confront these challenges.”

Extreme Ends of the Movement for LGBT Rights

Another weekend of reporting on Fire Island has come and gone. I am much more tan [if that's even possible], I made new friends in the Fire Island Pines and Cherry Grove and attended more than a handful of parties and fundraisers. This scene comes only four hours after I wake up in Bushwick and board the Long Island Railroad to a completely different reality. Ali Forney Board Chair and Water Island resident Kyle Merker incorporated this message into the comments he shared during an interview about the organization and it's work with homeless LGBT youth. Fire Island contains many generous and charitable people who continue to give their time and energy to a number of worthwhile causes within and beyond the movement for LGBT rights. The beautiful [and luxurious] island, however, serves as a stark contrast to the reality in which the majority of LGBT people live.

"It's very easy when you are on Fire Island -- going to the beach, swimming in your pool -- to remember not everybody has it as good as we do," Merker said in the context of the homeless youth for which he and his fellow board members and staff continue to advocate. "There are kids who are less fortunate. They are our kids."

Indeed.



From left: Sonia Cantore, Carson Kressley and DJ Lina entertain Pines residents at an Ali Forney Center fundraiser in the Fire Island Pines yesterday.