Coronavirus: LGBT+ charity advises young people to ‘think hard’ about coming out during lockdown
Young people considering coming out during the coronavirus lockdown should wait until the pandemic has passed, an LGBT+ and homeless charity has advised.
The Albert Kennedy Trust (AKT), which supports members of the LGBTQ+ community aged 16-25, said young people should “think hard” about coming out while self-isolating with their families.
Tim Sigsworth, AKT CEO, said he was concerned about how some families might react to the news at a time when stress levels are already high due to the Covid-19 lockdown.
He added: “If you’re a young person and you’re thinking of coming out, press pause on that until you get support.
“You can’t predict at these completely unprecedented times how your parents will react. They, like you, are under a lot of stress and they may not react in a positive way.
“We’re all being told to self-isolate, so being on the streets, it has to be the most dangerous place for a vulnerable young person at the moment.”
LGBT+ people make up around 25 per cent of the UK’s homeless population, according to AKT, with about 30 per cent of those citing family rejection as the main reason for living on the streets.
A 2019 survey conducted by AKT in collaboration with polling company YouGov found that one in 10 adults said they would feel uncomfortable if their child came out, Sky News reported.
More than one in ten said they wouldn’t want their child to bring home a same-sex partner, while one in five expressed concerns about how other family members would react to the news.
Councils across the country have been told by the government to provide accommodation to homeless people following the Covid-19 lockdown.
Homeless charities welcomed the move but questioned how the promise would be fulfilled, saying that thousands of rough sleepers had still not found accommodation.
Matthew Downie, director of policy at homeless charity Crisis, said: “There shouldn’t be too much self-congratulation about this. There are people still on the streets, and many people who won’t have eaten for days”.
And some members of the LGBT+ community have already found it difficult to find accommodation, particularly when displaying Covid-19 symptoms, AKT said.
“We had a young person very early on in the crisis who was staying in a hostel, but then started to show symptoms and the hostel asked them to leave,” Mr Sigsworth said.
“They had nowhere to stay and no family; their family had rejected them. They had no work, no options other than the street.”
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