gay youth

The hardest lessons

August 30, 2013 By Brandon Leave a Comment

“You can’t save everyone.”

These were the hardest four words I ever heard in my life and they were given to me by a spiritual mentor who picked me up from the floor and held me after I heard the news of the suicide of a very close personal friend. I have never gotten over the death of my friend, but her death prompted change in my own life and in the lives of others that were touched by her presence.

This month, Lost-n-Found was informed of the death of a young man who approached them for help, and then left the program because he didn’t think he could stop doing drugs. I don’t work directly with the LnF board, or any of the volunteers. I’m just one of those spreading the news about the work they do. But I know personally how something like this hits you. Hard and below the belt. [Read more…] about The hardest lessons

This is what homeless LGBT kids wake up to every day

August 27, 2013 By Brandon Leave a Comment

Last year Lost-n-Found shared a video of a ‘squat’ for homeless lgbt youth. People seemed shocked at how these kids lived and even more shocked at what they had to do to survive. One year later Lost-n-Found returned to the squat to see what had changed for these kids. As you can see from the video, not too much has changed despite the heroic efforts of LnF. Is it because they haven’t tried? No. If anything, the volunteers are more dedicated, more active, and pushing harder to make changes.

And still the number of homeless lgbt kids has increased. The revised estimate for 2013 is that there are approximately 750 homeless LGBT children on the streets of Atlanta. 62% of these kids will attempt suicide. When you wake up to this every day, is there any doubt as to why that number is so high?

You can Donate here or at the Lost-n-Found website

Jonathan’s Hope – Gay Fiction by Hans M. Hirschi

July 26, 2013 By Brandon Leave a Comment

Welcome Hans M. Hirschi to the blog. He’s here to talk about his latest novel Jonathan’s Hope which deals with a young man forced from his home because of his sexuality. We also want to extend our very heartfelt congrats to Hans and his partner who are now the very proud fathers of a beautiful baby boy. (See his twitter feed for ultimate baby cuteness.) ~B.

When I started writing fiction again, the thought of writing about homelessness was not foremost on my mind.

No, that’s an understatement.

It wasn’t on my mind at all.

Yet Jonathan’s Hope is about a youth who is tossed out into a forest by his parents who want him dead without physically killing him. When I started writing that story I had just gotten another one out of my system, “Family Ties”, a book that is also in the process of being published. There, two brothers and their families gather for the funeral of their mother. They each face different demons and obstacles that might challenge not only their relationships, but their own well-being and future. That story is told in a 24 hour time frame, and deals with other difficult topics, from rape, infidelity, to child molestation, and of course, other challenging topics such as parenting, coming out, and living out and proud. [Read more…] about Jonathan’s Hope – Gay Fiction by Hans M. Hirschi

UK Writers and Publishers Coming Together for LGBT Youth

July 5, 2013 By Brandon 2 Comments

My friend and fellow author Elin Gregory and I share passions, LGBT youth and history. And while I don’t write historical fiction, she does it wonderfully. ~B.

Many thanks, Brandon, for agreeing to host me on your blog.

One of the big problems for an historical novelist is how much information to dump into your text. Whatever makes it into the final version has no business being there if it doesn’t move the story along, so sometimes hard decisions have to be made. One of the hardest decisions for me, while writing On a Lee Shore, was to cut out a lot of the text involving a very minor character – Will, the link boy. [Read more…] about UK Writers and Publishers Coming Together for LGBT Youth

LGBT Youth Prostituting for Survival

July 2, 2013 By Brandon Leave a Comment

From the Front Line: A weekly post about what Lost-n-Found, a Homeless LGBT Youth organization in Atlanta, deals with on a daily basis. Names are changed or removed to protect the youth.

From the Hotline for Homeless LGBT Youth:

Often when we talk about LGBT kids prostituting themselves for survival, people automatically think of some kid standing on a street-corner waiting for a john to cruise by and pick them up. And while that does happen, too often there’s a more insidious form of prostitution going on behind the guise of a safe place to stay. [Read more…] about LGBT Youth Prostituting for Survival

MM Romance Fans for LGBT Youth

June 28, 2013 By Brandon 3 Comments

It has begun. We have had enough. We are mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, teachers, bloggers, writers, grandparents, cops, firefighters, marines, plumbers, construction workers, life guards. We are people. We are romance fans. We love the ideal that everyone gets a happy ending, even though we know how unlikely that is in real life. We are on the corner with a Kindle, hiding in the coffee shop with a Nook, waiting at the office so we can get back home and read that HEA.

We have seen LGBT kids beaten, abused, jailed, institutionalized, screamed at, berated, and raped for being different. We have seen them stepped over, stepped on, pushed aside and pushed away. We have witnessed their tears, their agony, their desire and need just to be loved.

We are tired of the desolation of our LGBT Youth

This post begins our campaign to raise awareness and funds to help end homelessness among LGBT Youth. Join us. Spread the word, use the logo above and link it to our fundraising effort. Tell us your story about your interaction with LGBT homeless youth, tell us about your own efforts to help, or tells us your story AS a homeless LGBT youth.

You don’t know what these kids are going through?

Read how one child was locked in a basement for being gay, how another was simply abandoned. That’s just a start, just a small drop in the bucket of depravity that youth organizations hear every day.

Not a romance fan? You don’t have to be to understand that 500,000 homeless lgbt kids on the street is absolutely ridiculous. Join us in this effort to raise awareness and funds.

Our first goal is to raise $25,000 for Lost-n-Found in Atlanta. Every single penny donated to this all volunteer organization goes directly to aiding lgbt youth, and for as little as $10 you can help get one kid off the street for a day. Donate here.