Research work · 2021
LGBT homelessness and mental health
Marcos Roberto Vieira Garcia
Homelessness and Mental Health
Abstract
This chapter presents a review of the literature on homeless lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals, especially on youth, a segment that has been the focus of the vast majority of studies on the subject. The relationship between the existence of a large contingent of homeless LGBT youth in several Western countries and the heterosexism and cisgenderism that exist in these societies is discussed. These prejudices are frequently present in the family, school, and work environment and make these people vulnerable concerning homelessness. Next, the difficulties specific to the lives of these young people on the streets, including exposure to multiple forms of violence, survival sex, sex work, and drug abuse, and in institutions for them, which often reproduce heterosexism and cisgenderism in their practices, are discussed. Mental health problems are also analysed: these occur more frequently in this segment than among homeless youth in general or among LGBT youth who have somewhere to live, as a consequence of the social marginalization process to which they are exposed. The specificities of segments within the homeless LGBT youth segment are examined, especially regarding transgender people, along with the intersectionality with race. Lastly, some remarks are made regarding the elements necessary for care practices in institutions that aim to provide care for this segment, with critical reflection on heterosexism, cisgenderism, and systemic racism, along with acceptance of the multiplicity of constructs of subjectivities by these people, thus enabling construction of dialogue-based care responses.