Brandon Shire

Author of Contemporary Gay Romance

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LGBT Youth Prostituting for Survival

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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. 

lgbt youth nonprofitFrom 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

Teacher Shares Closely Guarded Dirty Secret

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secretInstinctively, I knew it was bad. Yet, until September of 2012, I had no idea how bad. Ignorant. I was ignorant. Plain, simple, and completely inexcusable.

What didn’t I know? 40% of homeless youth identify as LGBT.

Why was it shocking that I did NOT know this stat? This past academic year was my twentieth year teaching mathematics; more than half of my career has been spent teaching at the college level in Boston.  Shouldn’t this be something I knew??? Sadly, the depth of my ignorance gets worse. By September of 2012, I was already actively supporting a wonderful young person discarded by family due to sexual orientation. I knew and loved a LGBT homeless teen. I thought it was an anomaly. As I spent that September night combing the university’s research holdings on the plight of LGBT youth, I had two main thoughts. [Read more…] about Teacher Shares Closely Guarded Dirty Secret

Locked in a Basement for Being Gay

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

lgbt youth nonprofitFrom the Hotline for Homeless LGBT Youth:

2:37 PM: The Hotline gets a phone call from a gay youth who states that his mother has locked him in a basement because he’s gay. She left him his phone and a pop-tart.

Further investigation reveals that this 17-year-old has already been to the police. His situation at home was so bad that he ran away. (He is an African American youth and his family is Muslim and will not tolerate his sexuality.) [Read more…] about Locked in a Basement for Being Gay

Deaf, Gay, and Left Homeless By His Parents

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lgbt youth nonprofitFrom the Hotline for Homeless LGBT Youth:

We hear a lot of youths’ stories on the HOTLINE and most would simply wretch your heart. This cry for help started out that way, but quickly turned to a positive. 

 

We got a call from a gentleman that had run into a young man that he thought we could help. We asked that he give the youth our number and to have him contact us so that we could verify his story.

The youth could not call but could text because he is deaf. His mother had him declared mentally unstable and got him onto disability, so she could control the money. [Read more…] about Deaf, Gay, and Left Homeless By His Parents

LGBT Authors Coming Together for a Cause

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LostandFound_250

It is a given that my blog is always open to authors who give back to the LGBT community, so it is a wonderful surprise when I come across a press and an entire group of authors who are as passionate about LGBT youth homelessness as I am. That they randomly chose one of the same charities that I donate to was well… Let’s just say I could use a lot of very positive emoticons here to display how happy I was. ~B.

Hi, I’m Kris Jacen, the Executive Editor for ManLoveRomance Press (gay romance/mystery/paranormals) and its two imprints, Passion in Print Press (traditional romance) and Featherweight Press (Young Adult and children’s stories). I’m also a mama. I have two beautiful daughters that, although they can try my patience, I can say that I love unconditionally. It won’t matter to me one wit if at some point one of them tells me that they love another girl or even if they think they maybe should have been a boy. They have brought immeasurable joy and love into mine and my husband’s lives. So I think it was the “mama” in me that reacted first when I was approached about LOST AND FOUND. [Read more…] about LGBT Authors Coming Together for a Cause

How Writers Can Help Nonprofits

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donate buttonHow can I help?

I get asked this quest a lot. At least two to three times per week day. What can I do? How can I help?  Unfortunately, impulse usually stops at asking instead of acting. I’m not quite sure why that is, from my perspective it seems to be fear.

Most people don’t ask the question when the need is immediate, they just jump right in without worries about religious bent, political affiliation, sexuality, or any of the other ‘norms’ we discard people for. In an emergency we are all just human.

So, since other authors tend to ask me this question most, I have taken all my accumulated ‘wisdom’ and blogged about it over at Suzanne van Rooyen’s Off the Page.

Getting involved is actually quite simple.

Making a Difference is even easier.