Essay: 'True Colors' Embraces Homeless LGBT Youth This Holiday

 

By André St. Clair

The 2015 holiday season is fast approaching. Soon families across America will gather with loved ones to give thanks and celebrate. For young LGBT men and women like myself, however, this could be the most stressful time of the year.

The promise of holiday cheer can quickly turn to a frightful period flush with disappointment and rejection from disapproving parents and family members. The problem of LGBT youth homelessness is particularly acute at this time, as many are driven from their homes feeling unloved and alone. 

Eschewing cozy Norman Rockwell depictions of the holidays, I'm thinking a lot about these young people now, as my mind rewinds to an event last spring, where a permanent art collection for True Colors Residences was unveiled.

True Colors is a supportive housing unit for homeless LGBT youth and their special needs. I was one of eight contemporary artists working with Art Connects (which places museum-quality exhibitions in New York City's social service spaces, free of charge), selected to create a display inspired by residents of the True Colors Harlem facility. 

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         Photo credit: Tavet Gillson

André St. Clair is a Transgender interdisciplinary artist, speaker and activist. Her visual art is part of the permanent exhibit at Cyndi Lauper's True Colors Residence for LGBT youth and in the permanent collection at Leslie Lohman Museum for Gay & Lesbian Art. She can be found at Twitter and andrestclair.com. 

Source: NBC News