I only recently started thinking about homelessness. Growing up in rural Missouri and attending college in rural Vermont, homelessness was largely off my radar because I didn't regularly see homeless people or know anyone who had faced homelessness. After graduating this past spring and moving out to Berkeley, CA, homelessness has suddenly been a much larger part of my awareness. There is a much larger population of homeless people here--anytime I go downtown, I run into at least 10 homeless people--and my friend Paige is working as a case manager for homeless senior citizens. So, I've been thinking about homelessness a lot, lately.

Now, at this point, you're probably wondering why I'm telling you all of this. This is a blog for LGBT Issues in Higher Ed, afterall. Well, The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force estimates that 20-40% of homeless youth identify as LGBT inthis extensive report. That's a huge percentage! That's a huge percentage of our peers! Especially when you consider that the U.S. Department Health and Human Services estimates that LGBT people make up 2-3% of the population.