www.KickedOutAnthology.com
October 2009
Homofactus Press
Edited by Sassafras Lowrey
Foreword by Judy Shepard
40% of homeless youth in the United States identify as LGBTQ. Kicked Out brings together the voices of current and former homeless LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer) youth to address the growing epidemic and tell the forgotten
stories of some of our community’s youngest and most vulnerable members. Editor Sassafras Lowrey brought together the stories of over 20 diverse contributors to share stories of survival while weaving together descriptions of abuse with poignant
accounts of the sanctuary of community and the power of creating chosen families. Also included are the nuanced perspectives of leading organizations such as The National Gay & Lesbian Task Force and The National Alliance Against Homelessness as well as regional agencies like Sylvia’s Place, The Circus Project and Family Builders. Kicked Out gives voice to the often forgotten members of our community and challenges the stereotypical face of homelessness.
For information for press or about booking a reading or workshop please contact editor Sassafras Lowrey at Sassafras@KickedOutAnthology.com
October 2009
Homofactus Press
Edited by Sassafras Lowrey
Foreword by Judy Shepard
40% of homeless youth in the United States identify as LGBTQ. Kicked Out brings together the voices of current and former homeless LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer) youth to address the growing epidemic and tell the forgotten
stories of some of our community’s youngest and most vulnerable members. Editor Sassafras Lowrey brought together the stories of over 20 diverse contributors to share stories of survival while weaving together descriptions of abuse with poignant
accounts of the sanctuary of community and the power of creating chosen families. Also included are the nuanced perspectives of leading organizations such as The National Gay & Lesbian Task Force and The National Alliance Against Homelessness as well as regional agencies like Sylvia’s Place, The Circus Project and Family Builders. Kicked Out gives voice to the often forgotten members of our community and challenges the stereotypical face of homelessness.
For information for press or about booking a reading or workshop please contact editor Sassafras Lowrey at Sassafras@KickedOutAnthology.com
Excerpt from "Ethnography" by Ricky Price
I began volunteering for the Shelter on a weekly basis, initially attending an information session run by Lucky Michaels, the director of the Metropolitan Community Church of New York City’s (MCCNY) Homeless Youth Services. Lucky is a sprightly young gay man in his late twenties. He’s worked at the shelter since its inception and was promoted to Director of Homeless Services the previous summer. Lucky has a shaved head, which makes visible his tattoo of a circle with two horns, placed off-center on the back of his head. He usually dresses casually in jeans and a t-shirt, occasionally wearing a hooded sweatshirt. His clothes are baggy giving him a scrappy appearance that belies his remarkable ability at 5’7” or 5’8” to take command of the often-chaotic conditions at the shelter; his fervency and passion for his work emanate from his demeanor and personality. At the end of the information session Lucky stated, “These kids are rejected everywhere they go, this is the only place that’s theirs.” This statement would prove prescient as ideas, thoughts and sites of rejection became one of the most common themes throughout the ethnographic study.
When traveling to the site I take the F train to 34th Street and 6th avenue and from there it’s about a fifteen-minute walk to the shelter. The walk takes me across three avenue blocks, past the buzz of Madison Square Garden and the energy of the garment district. There is a swift change in this energy as I cross from 8th avenue to 9th : the throngs of people thin out and buildings quickly devolve from busy commercial restaurants and clothing stores into rundown apartment buildings. Colors also shift from bright red, blue and yellow to pale and paltry grays. The exit ramp for the Lincoln tunnel splits 36th street in half as I walk from 9th to 10th avenue and acts as a physical barrier between the western side of Manhattan and the bustle of midtown. Crossing the ramp is difficult and I wait five to seven minutes for an opportunity. It’s an area where the traffic feels dangerous and I often find myself comparing it to a great river crossing. During these moments I can’t help but see a symbolic significance within this physical barrier, a man-made asphalt river separating the shelter from the world.
When traveling to the site I take the F train to 34th Street and 6th avenue and from there it’s about a fifteen-minute walk to the shelter. The walk takes me across three avenue blocks, past the buzz of Madison Square Garden and the energy of the garment district. There is a swift change in this energy as I cross from 8th avenue to 9th : the throngs of people thin out and buildings quickly devolve from busy commercial restaurants and clothing stores into rundown apartment buildings. Colors also shift from bright red, blue and yellow to pale and paltry grays. The exit ramp for the Lincoln tunnel splits 36th street in half as I walk from 9th to 10th avenue and acts as a physical barrier between the western side of Manhattan and the bustle of midtown. Crossing the ramp is difficult and I wait five to seven minutes for an opportunity. It’s an area where the traffic feels dangerous and I often find myself comparing it to a great river crossing. During these moments I can’t help but see a symbolic significance within this physical barrier, a man-made asphalt river separating the shelter from the world.
The Advocate Issue # 1027 June 2009
Forty Under 40: The Advocate
(..Continued from page 1)
Lucky Michaels | Photographer | 29 | New York City
LGBT teens make up an outsize proportion of runaway youths nationwide. With disconcertingly few programs to help them, they are particularly vulnerable to homelessness and its residual dangers. Even in New York City, only 75 beds exist for this entire demographic. Twenty-six of them are at Sylvia’s Place, a harm- and crisis-reduction facility run by the Metropolitan Community Church. Its director is Lucky Michaels, who joined the program at its 2002 inception as an overnight counselor. Then a photography student at Parsons, Michaels was himself a refugee from conservative Traverse City, Mich., where he’d endured ostracism and the suicides of two gay friends. Michaels fused his photographic talent with his mission in Shelter, a beautifully spare, unsentimental book documenting the first three years of Sylvia’s Place through Michaels’s mesmerizing photos and first-person testimonials from residents. Shelter is “an advocacy tool,” Michaels says. “There is still a lack of services and representation for this population. They’re essentially invisible. People would rather talk about marriage equality and more attractive issues.” He’s currently at work on a second “participant observer photo essay,” two related photo exhibitions, and a music video (featuring Soren Anders).
From the Editor:javascript:void(0)
I proceeded to tell her about the issue we were currently working on -- this summer double issue -- and how on the 40th anniversary of Stonewall we were featuring 40 accomplished gay men and lesbians under the age of 40, people who owe at least part of their success to what happened at the Stonewall Inn 40 years ago.
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