Drifting Toward Love: Black, Brown, Gay, and Coming of Age on the Streets of New York
By Kai Wright
The author, Kai Wright, has taken a look at three adolescents that chose to live on the streets of New York. The author is a journalist and wanted to understand why these teens would put themselves at risk and how they made those choices. It is the voice of these youths, not society or government and is a compelling account of gay youth of diverse backgrounds growing up homeless, seeking acceptance and trying to understand their own sexuality.
Drifting Toward Love: Black, Brown, Gay, and Coming of Age on the Streets of New York
The story profiles Manny, 14 from Brooklyn of Puerto Rican and Jamaican heritage, lived with his mom, but his family had trouble accepting his sexuality. He wanted to discover how do I live with being gay. Left home and lived on the streets, he needed money so he turned to sex and drug use. He is very bright and intelligent, but the barriers were how do I live with a gay identity and he had no guidance.
Julius African-American, is from an abusive foster home, in the south. Also struggling with his sexuality fled to New York, became homeless and doing sex work to support himself. During this time he lost track of what a relationship really is and how to have a relationship. Like so many gay youth he never learned the “The birds and the bees” of being gay.
Carlos, grew up in East Brooklyn, and is Puerto Rican.
These stories portray how some teens are coping with being gay and discovering their sexuality in society. There needs to be positive conversations to support gay youth with their relationships. Also we need to provide a safe place for them to grow both at school and at home so they can get real guidance and understanding of what it means to have a healthy gay relationship. These kids do not have to run away, live on the streets to be accepted.
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