A Journalism Project
My original Sylvia’s Place article was rightfully criticized for being too much like a newspaper article. Here is the newly rewritten Sylvia’s Place magazine piece.
Make it a multimedia experience and see the video I shot at Sylvia’s Place, read the original article, or listen a shelter suicide attempt podcast or a letters to Gay Santa podcast read by Sylvia’s Place residents .
Several months ago, one of the youth staying in Sylvia’s Place, a homeless emergency shelter for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth in Hell’s Kitchen, tried to kill himself. Fortunately, the young man survived.
One of the counselors tells the story. Listen to the Suicide Attempt Podcast here.
This Photo and Podcast by Clare Trapasso
This week the residents of Sylvia’s Place, the only emergency shelter in New York City for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth, wrote letters to Gay Santa telling him what they wanted for Christmas.
Click on the link (letters-to-gay-santa.mp3) to hear a few of their letters.
This is a story about the thousands of homeless lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth in New York. It’s a problem that isn’t being talked about. It’s a problem that most people don’t even know exists.
The piece took about 2 1/2 months of research and is complemented by my “Sylvia’s Place” video also posted on the site. Writing this story was at times emotionally wrenching, but I think it’s an important story that needs to be told. There are too many gay and straight homeless youth on the streets and something needs to be done. So please pass this story on, tell your family and friends about the problem and get involved.
P.S. If you enjoy the piece, keep checking back for the podcasts and pictures to follow. Continue reading ‘Sylvia’s Place: A Homeless Shelter for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Youth’
Video by Clare Trapasso.
At Sylvia’s Place, New York City’s only emergency shelter for homeless lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth, the price of admission is having no other place to go.
Many of the residents have graduated from foster care and detention centers with histories of violence and psychological and behavioral disorders. Few have jobs or high school diplomas. Many are H.I.V. positive and are on the streets doing sex work. But within Sylvia’s Place, a shelter that feels more like a gay slumber party staffed by college professors and ex-convicts, no gay youth is turned away.
Homeless in New York City 
