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Operation Shine begins in Seattle: The battle to save LGBT homeless youth gets underway May 22 |
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| Operation Shine begins in Seattle: The battle to save LGBT homeless youth gets underway May 22 | ||
| by Shaun Knittel -
SGN Staff Writer Four activists, Chloe Noble, Nicole Tomlin, Jill Hardman and Matt Rouse, are walking across America for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) homeless youth Saturday, May 23. The walk, which begins in Seattle, will cover 6,000 miles to raise awareness about Queer homeless youth in America. Their entire walk will be homeless, which will give them a unique opportunity to film homeless youth all over the United States. The four walkers will be on foot six to nine hours a day, or 15 to 20 miles completed with 50-pound backpacks. They estimate Pride Walk 2009 to take six to nine months to complete. The numbers are hard to contemplate. The sheer volume is stupefying. As many as 1.3 million homeless youth sleep outdoors at night and, according to Noble, over 400,000 of those youth are LGBT kids - that puts their numbers at 40% within the group. A reason, says Noble, why LGBT Civil Rights are inseparable from the epidemic of homeless youth in America is because Queer youth make up nearly half of their population. "There is a movement happening, and we're calling it Operation Shine," Noble told SGN in an exclusive interview. "Now is the time for us to stand with those who would bring families together, not tear them apart. Now is the time for us to feel the impact that senseless discrimination is having on children all over this country." Operation Shine will take place in each city the walk takes them. In Seattle, Shine is scheduled for 6 p.m. Friday, May 22 at West Lake Center Park - one day before the walk across the country begins. Chloe describes each Shine as a sit-in where homeless youth and their supporters can meet. Art will be created at each Shine and brought to all locations on their itinerary. Noble invites everyone to next Friday's Shine. She said it's time for people to understand that this impact directly affects all LGBT people. "When one of us is assaulted or dehumanized, all of us are assaulted or dehumanized," she told SGN. "When a portion of our society lacks the compassion and integrity to allow all citizens even their most basic human rights, the impact is intensely polarizing and inhumane." This is why the battle is dividing our country in two and driving children into the streets, she said. According to statistics, these LGBT youth go on to be homeless where they are more at risk than their heterosexual peers for physical abuse, sexual exploitation, chemical or alcohol dependency, discrimination and death. After they set out on foot May 23 from Seattle, their journey will take them to San Francisco, then east to Boston, Mass. New York, and then Washington D.C. From there they will move southwest to New Orleans, La. and end their journey in Austin, Tex. Chloe said, "To put it simply, we are walking because we believe that our youth should not have to live on the streets, sleeping in the cold, wondering how they are going to get their own needs met." Throughout April, Chloe and volunteers filmed homeless youth in Salt Lake City, Utah, where Pride Walk 2009 is based. The rate of Queer homeless in Utah is higher than the national average. Their stories will be the first to go on the website (pridewalk2009.org), with the youth from other cities to follow. "What we will show you will appall and astonish you," Chloe said. "You will be moved to tears and sometimes even rolling with laughter. You'll fall in love with this unseen nation and long to reach out to them in every way you can." She said this underground society of children is not often seen or understood by those outside it. They are the children of the urban jungle - something she hopes to change with Pride Walk 2009 and each Operation Shine as they take place around the country. "We are ready to tell their stories of personal defeat and of triumph. Collectively, their story is one of great courage and surprising wisdom," Chloe said to SGN. "They have much to teach us." The bottom line, she said, is that these youth belong in a home. They need assistance now, and they need it without exception. |
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