20 black LGBT leaders discuss the new African American history museum — Metro Weekly

On any given night in Washington, D.C., on the streets of the Nation's Capital, there are 200 to 300 LGBTQ homeless youth sleeping on sidewalks and weather grates and under bridges and overpasses. Despite the bone-chilling cold of winter and the suffocating summer nights, these young people are attempting to survive the overwhelming odds of the elements in a city that allocates only 75 beds to LGBTQ homeless youth. These youth are already facing heartbreaking marginalization, rejection and trauma solely because of their gender identity and sexual orientation. For over a decade, the Wanda Alston Foundation has been providing shelter and supporting LGBTQ youth ages 16 to 24 who are experiencing homelessness. In my four years of leading this organization, which provides life-saving and transformative services, I have never been more concerned about the future of our young people with the Trump-Pence administration proposing federal regulations to intentionally enable discrimination against LGBTQ youth in need and other vulnerable communities in federally funded programs.