Cyndi Lauper, she's so unusual -- that hasn't changed since she released her debut album of the same name in 1983, right? Well, guess what? Cyndi Lauper is so unusual that she just went and put her money where her awesomely loud mouth is and opened a shelter for homeless Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender youth. She was apparently moved to do so in her hometown, after she found out that 40 percent of the homeless youth in NYC identified as LGBT -- a shocking statistic, we're sure you'll agree.
Cyndi, we applaud you. We applaud you because according to
statistics, 20 percent of the nation's homeless are part of the LGBT
community (while the general youth population is only 3-5 percent LGBT).
In addition, according to the National Coalition for the Homeless,
homeless LGBT youth have a far higher suicide rate than their hetero
counterparts (62 percent versus 29 percent) and are over seven times more likely to
experience sexual violence on the streets than straight youths.
Of course, any young person forced to live on the streets should be a
concern to all of us, but the fact of the matter is, gay children are
still being victimized: in their schools, in their homes and in their
communities. As Michele "If you're involved in the gay and lesbian lifestyle, it's
personal bondage, personal despair and personal enslavement" Bachmann
continues her heinous nationwide publicity tour to a remarkable amount
of support, we should all be reminded that homophobia is alive and well
in the United States.
So we should all be grateful when anyone steps up and does something about it. When someone who is so often written off as a kook and a weirdo and a has-been, like Cyndi, does it, we should all sit up and give thanks and shake off our misconceptions about that person.
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