Hi, I'm Hannah, I'm a sophmore Cell Biology and Genetics major.

I'm Meredith! I'm from North Carolina, I love pitbulls and I'm on this trip to learn more about a community that I am not a part of because I think a responsible+effective ally is an educated ally.

I'm Emily. I'm a senior geology major.

NYC LGBTQIA Trip Blog Post #1: New Alternatives

     The LGBTQIA community that we've met so far has been very open, expressive and positive, both with each other and our group. Something we have noticed about the homeless LGBTQ community in New York is that they don't look how you think homeless people look. Many members we saw had decent clothing (clean, put together) and electronic devices (phones, headphones.)  It was interesting to see because the impression of homeless or home insecure people is usually negative, but the fun, supportive community within this shelter was a good confrontation of these automatic stereotypes.  

   

     We also talked to a trans woman at New Alternatives, Misty, who went through her story of foster care, group homes, homelessness and other circumstances as an LGBTQ member. After she found helpful and supportive mentors around the age of 18, she eventually went to work for New Alternatives to continue helping people in similar situations. Hearing her story was incredibly inspiring and moving. While we know that the LGBTQIA community faces higher levels of violence and homelessness, it's very different to put a specific face on these statistics. 

     This also brought our attention to the issue of foster kids aging out of the foster system. At 18, most kids are not ready to support themselves, yet they are deemed adults and thrust out onto the street. This is why we admire New Alternatives, which has an extended age range and pushes for legislation that extends the "age-out" range from 18 to 24. At New Alternatives, people that age-out are considered alumni but are still considered family and receive help and support. 

     Something we've noticed about ourselves is that we have different ways of presenting ourselves in a queer space than another space. For example, queer people that identify with he/his or she/hers may be more likely to also add their use of they/them pronouns in safe or queer friendly spaces. We discovered this from a group member's comment that she hadn't heard people use both he/his or she/hers with they/them very often. Another group member responded saying she usually heard this in LGBTQIA friendly spaces.