I’m someone who has experience with the Ali Forney Center. There is literally nowhere else for young LGBTQ people, especially trans people, to go to be safe overnight in a last minute basis crisis for shelters. As someone who has been at the drop in center several, several times, and have witnessed my peers who have used this as a life saving option, there needs to be an alternative and more communication. This will have dire consequences if we are just expected to figure it out ourselves. Ali Forney is one of the best, safest spaces for LGBTQ+ people in NYC and it’s because of them that I am on my way to being out of homelessness. Yes, I agree there should be some regulations with these spaces and there should be more communication between these centers and the law to figure out an adequate solution, but this is not the answer. This will kill young queer people, which is why the center was created in the first place: in the legacy of Ali Forney, who was killed on the streets in Harlem and who found solace in this same drop in center.
Bumblx t1_ja3mqay wrote
Reply to After City Bans Sleeping at Homeless Youth Centers, a Center Resists (Archived link below in Comments) by irish_fellow_nyc
I’m someone who has experience with the Ali Forney Center. There is literally nowhere else for young LGBTQ people, especially trans people, to go to be safe overnight in a last minute basis crisis for shelters. As someone who has been at the drop in center several, several times, and have witnessed my peers who have used this as a life saving option, there needs to be an alternative and more communication. This will have dire consequences if we are just expected to figure it out ourselves. Ali Forney is one of the best, safest spaces for LGBTQ+ people in NYC and it’s because of them that I am on my way to being out of homelessness. Yes, I agree there should be some regulations with these spaces and there should be more communication between these centers and the law to figure out an adequate solution, but this is not the answer. This will kill young queer people, which is why the center was created in the first place: in the legacy of Ali Forney, who was killed on the streets in Harlem and who found solace in this same drop in center.