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Post by Maxisms on Feb 24, 2015 7:33:47 GMT
If you can, please share any experiences you may have had with being homeless. In my discussions with some Instagrammers I've found that this is a very prevalent problem. Whether being cut-off or disowned by parents or just falling on rough times, homelessness is a serious problem plaguing our generation and leaves us susceptible to being taken advantage of in such a vulnerable stateā¦.
I'll go first: I was cut off financially at 19 years old and moved in with someone I was dating for only a couple months. It was obvious right away that it was a bad choice and I felt stuck until I finally had the balls to pack up and move to New York City, where eventually my parents stepped back in and helped make ends meet until I was set up as a bartender and eventually a model. Needless to say I was lucky, but it was the ultimate decision to stop living in fear and live my own life that got me out of that situation. Also in traveling after college, there were a few cold nights but ultimately the experience gained from the travels were well worth it. Visit some older posts in my blog for more on that (www.maxvicious.blogspot.com)
Please share your story below!
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Post by johngables on Feb 24, 2015 8:48:03 GMT
I was just sent Max's book for free (certain incidences have got me at a low point in my life right now. Thank you so much Max) and in return he asked that I share my story with you all. I have recently turned 20 and a few months ago my parents found out that I was gay. It was at that time that I was completely disowned. All of my bank accounts were opened when I was too young to open one on my own, so my dad opened them for me. When they disowned me, my father closed all the accounts and kept the money, leaving me with nothing but a backpack full of my clothes. I then reached out to a few friends I knew in DC and the nearby areas. In the past 7 months, I have moved 6 times. 5 of them were from couch to couch that friends graciously allowed me to stay at for a while until I felt like I was being a bother. During that time I saved up enough to put up a security deposit on an apartment. I was living on the floor but it felt good to know I had a place I could call mine. I was working about 70 hours a week and I have finally finished furnishing my room. Unfortunately, even at 70+ hours, the money isn't the best. I work at a restaurant that doesn't get much traffic, and I have had many days that I've worked 12 hours and made less than 10 dollars the entire day. I used to never believe the whole "it'll get better" thing because for years I've only been kicked down lower and lower, but I can finally see the light. Through my hard work, I'm being offered a much better paying job, I have a place to call my own, and I've found out who my friends really are. After all, the people who stay with you when you truly have nothing else are the ones who truly care.
Well thanks for listening to me ramble about my life story, hopefully it helps at least one person in any way shape or form. And I hope you all read Max's book. I've only just started but I truly do enjoy it.
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Post by Maxisms on Feb 25, 2015 9:02:13 GMT
JohnGables, You're kicking ass dude. Thanks for sharing your story. Hopefully we'll get to meet some day. You seem like you're the kind of guy who doesn't let anything hold him down!
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Post by ancienneregina on May 21, 2015 3:16:04 GMT
Life has been moving along. This sub on the forum board needs(in my loving and heartfelt opinion) more movement. Here goes ---
Brothers -- I was never homeless, very gratefully. However, I absolutely have known gay and trans youth over the years; I have known numerous 'straight boys' whom have been and ARE homeless. IT'S A PROBLEM.
I won't preach just express love and compassion.
Over the years, as you know I'm decades from my salad days, I have had several youths live with me. It's been a joy and a challenge.
One in particular was extremely to stunningly good looking. IF IMPORTANT? Well --- (MAX you know what happens with very good looking youths) He was absolutely straight AND is. Presently, married with two children.
Long story how he and 'his boy' travelled to my doorstep over 15 years ago. Life
He was a mark and quite naif. I knew he would be harrassed and teased for his good lucks. At the time, his face was extremely fem. Another young man, whom is a spiritual son said, "I could put a dress on him and get gads and gads of dough for his a**." I was angry and hurt that a young man whom himself was ghastly sexually abused as a very young teenager would say it. BUT, he knew.
Finally, I had 'the talk' with him - about being too pretty and fem-looking. He moved along in life and matured. He no longer appears fem -- he purposely wears a close beard. By the way his biological brothers also told him to be wary of his 'girly' appearances.
When the the boys lived with me, the local police and school officials all knew. My neighbors new and were not amused. The boys were black, and my neighborhood was quite WHITE. An elderly woman recently asked me about 'the boys'. The experience was a 'great awakening' on the plight of homeless youth. Peace.
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Post by lambchopp59 on Aug 20, 2018 5:08:07 GMT
Homeless as a youth in 1976 at 16 years old after my father attempted to murder me, Your movie "Hooked" was a bit tough to watch, as some experiences were eerily reminiscent of street life in SF, and some of my own experience much different. Having planned my escape from homophobic bullying and parental neglect, and knowing some about my destination from an earlier junket there, I had some physical tools at my dispensal to become effectively incognito in the city. One device proved to be incredibly useful, a large metal hook with a rope attached, allowed me to scale into some "no man's lands" and up onto fire escapes into buildings that are now long demolished. Turns out some of those places had some unexpected dangers of their own along with sleeping precariously perched. Only one of these places still exists in the city. I had the dubious displeasure of coming face to face with F. Phelps, of Kansas "God Hates Fags" Westboro baptist fame. A local family by the same last name were related to him, and every bit as bent on their religious zealotry. After an incredibly sick encounter with this man and family, having been invited to a "party in my honor", which was one really twisted "send me to hell" fest... I knew my days in the small midwestern community my parents had moved me to were numbered. It was partially the efforts of these idiotic zealots that turned my inadvertent outing to the community into one bizarre and dangerous affair. I can only tell bits of my story here, I have worked it into a 15 chapter novel I keep on a disconnected drive, I plan on refining, editing some more before submitting for publication, probably near my retirement time in 3 years. I decided to devote each chapter to influential people in my youth, many who have long departed this planet for other lives. I saved the details of the grisliest part of my story for chapter 13. Needless to say my own western based story may help to drive home the hypocrisy of religious persecution of LGBT. It is increasingly disturbing to me this current ad nauseum spilling from the Trumpster "religious liberty" fools. There are many groups aside from the famous Westboro dipshits who have decades of blood on their hands, who Jeebus himself would disown. Sometimes, Guys, Sao Paulo Brazil is looking better and better...
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Post by Theddasapa on Mar 13, 2019 0:01:36 GMT
I was never a homeless youth, but I think I will be homeless soon. My dad is incredibly controlling, and my brother is a psychopath with covert narcissism. I have always been really sick and taken advantage of... no matter how hard I work to get out of this house and this living situation I keep having everything fall apart. I managed to get myself through college, and a month after graduating and excited about moving on with my life I was hospitalized with Congestive Heart Failure and bedridden for a year. While still unable to stand or walk well, my brother beat me and a straight friend of mine with a frying pan and put us both in the hospital (splitting my head open and hurting my friend's knee). My dad is proud of my brother for what he had done and angry I called 911 for an ambulance because "family issues stay in the family", and now I am fighting to stay here until I can get on my feet again... but it feels like a losing battle. I had been planning on ending my life on April 1st, 2019 for about a year, but with the Medicaid expansion in Virginia, I have been able to see a cardiologist for the first time since I went into the hospital with CHF in 2016 and I am trying to get my health under control. I am obese due to medication as a child, and with additional problems such as high blood pressure and sleep apnea from being so big, and I am really pushing to get the gastric sleeve surgery to get my health and weight under control, try to get my life under control, and try to get out of here... but honestly, I am not sure if I can make it in the time I have before I can legally be put out on the street... and it is so terrifying to be crippled but not technically disabled, and to face the real threat of being homeless and losing everything soon. If I can make it though... I want to run, I have always wanted to run but have never been able to. I had walked several 5k marathons and I have always made a real effort to lose weight, and I have always wanted to jive dance, play soccer, do parkour, jog park trails with pups, etc. I have often thought about it and wanted to help homeless youth, but also those trapped in abusive situations they can't escape on their own, but I can't even get out of my own situation much less help anyone else... but even with all of that, with the possibility of having bariatric surgery that could dramatically improve my life is giving me enough hope to stay around and see if I can pull through. I am really glad things have got better for you guys posting above, and I really hope that somehow, someday, those who need help will be able to get it and not have to make do or give up. <3
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