Carl Siciliano is the founder and director of two residences for homeless gay
youth.
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By Atiya Jones
Friday, May 14, 2004
Most people will never know who Ali Forney was or who he might have because
like so many queer youth, he fall victim to the streets.
After his family rejected him for being gay, Ali was forced out of his home
and bounced around in different foster homes and even a mental institution.
He began to turn tricks by the age of 13, became addicted to crack cocaine
and, when he died, was HIV positive.
On Dec. 5, 1997 Ali was found shot to death in front of an East Harlem housing
project. Ali’s long-time friend Carl Siciliano then decided that something
had to be done about the thousands of homeless gay youth in New York City like
Ali. In the memory of his fallen friend, Siciliano founded the Ali Forney Center
in 2002.
While battling his personal demons, Ali worked extremely hard to ensure the
safely of other queer youth like himself be counseling them and simply by being
their friend.
Siciliano and his staff hope to continue Ali’s work and his sense of dedication
in the face of such seemingly insurmountable obstacles. With about 40 percent
of all homeless youth being gay, the Ali Forney Center has its work cut out
for itself.
The center operates two apartments, both located in Manhattan in neighborhoods
that queer youth consider safe — one in Harlem, on the edge of Morningside
Heights; the other, in the Village.
Having worked with gay youth since 1992, Siciliano believes that the most important
way to reach these outcasts is to make them feel comfortable in their surroundings,
because often they are picked on, terrorized and harassed at homeless shelters.
They actually feel safer on the streets.
That’s why he set up apartments instead of shelters. “Queer kids are out on
the streets at night and they all were getting murdered,” Siciliano said. “They
have it harder than other homeless youth.”
Currently, with only 12 beds and 110 kids on the waiting list, the center
is having a hard time keeping up with the demand for a safe place to crash.
Siciliano finds himself overwhelmed by the ongoing problem many gay youth face
when they come out to their families —25 percent end up homeless.
He is now looking for another space to accommodate about 10 more kids, who
can stay there during the day while they wait to get into the apartments. The
living spaces are open from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m.
The center also tries to provide counseling for each client. Terry Solomon,
20, a resident of one of the centers, became alienated from his family after
they discovered his sexual orientation.
“Me and my grandmother didn’t get along,” he related. “She didn’t like gay
people.” Even though Solomon knew all his life that he was gay, he hadn’t come
out to her for that reason.
Solomon suffers from bipolar depression and has had four heart attacks in
his 20 years on earth. But that didn’t stop his grandmother from putting him
out on the streets. Having stayed at the center’s Uptown residence for four
months, he now has to find a new place to live soon because the center only
allows each resident a six-month stay.
“It’s OK” is all Solomon would say when asked if he liked living at the center.
Originally, Solomon was referred to Ali Forney by Covenant House, a private
charity that aids street youth.
Solomon said his main beef has been “dealing with six different gay attitudes.
It’s like a woman on PMS,” he said. “It’s too much at times.”
While being on the streets was hard at first. it taught Solomon how to survive,
and surviving is exactly what he is doing working full time as a health-care
aide. He hopes to graduate from St. Vincent’s School of Nursing in August.
Coping with rejection from family and society can take a toll on any anyone,
especially when he or she is in still forming an adult personality. That’s
why Ali Forney provides an overnight counselor who stays with the kids.
There is also a social worker available during the day. Joshua Rodriguez,
22, has been at the center for a month and a half and is another victim of
family estrangement.
He has been bouncing around from place to place after his mother kicked him
out at 16, when his then-boyfriend encouraged him to tell his mother about
his sexuality.
“I regret telling my mother,” Rodriguez now says. “I would have waited until
I was older so I could have better taken care of myself.”
Like Solomon, Rodriguez was referred to Ali Forney by Covenant House. Rodriguez
had been staying at another shelter called Independent House, where — no pun
intended — clients enjoyed later curfews and weekend passes.
Whatever the numbers on homeless youth, they constitute a percentage
way out of proportion to their numbers.
• The U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services found that gay youth constituted 25% of
all homeless youth.
• A TV producer, Arnold Shapiro,
found through his research that 42% of all homeless youth
identify as gay, lesbian or
bisexual.
• The National Gay and Lesbian
Task Force estimates that 26% of gay youth are forced to
leave home.
• 1998 research for the FBI found
that 26% of gay youth) are thrown out of their homes.
— source: Ali Forney Center |
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Even though the center prides itself on being more like a home environment
than other shelters, no outside visitors are allowed, and the exact location
of the centers is kept confidential. There is a 9:30 p.m. curfew on weekdays
and an 11 p.m. curfew on weekends.
“A lot of people don’t want to come to a place like this because a lot of
people judge you from the outside,” Solomon noted. “They know you are from
the ‘gay shelter.’”
Rodriguez added, “It’s all right living like this, but you always prefer living
in your own house.”
As Solomon and Rodriguez sit down to eat a dinner of pork chops, rice and
spinach prepared by Siciliano’s boyfriend with their other roommates, there
is a sense of a big family gathering. Juice is passed around the table as a
resident blesses his meal.
They sit down together, gossip and argue just like real brothers and sister.
A television entertains those who don’t want to take part in the conversations.
Once dinner is over, everyone goes back to bed to continue the conversation
about their day and job searches.
While Ali Forney wasn’t as fortunate as Rodriguez and Solomon, at least his
name will be remembered on as a New York City queer institution fighting to
keep its youth off the street.
Appropriately, the center’s first benefit has been named for Ali’s alter ego,
Luscious. The benefit, which has been selling briskly, according to a spokesman,
will take place at the Lucille Lortel Theatre on June 14.
The event plans to be — well, there is no other word to describe it — Luscious.
A full roster of talent will be performing, including Daphne Rubin-Vega, Ari
Gold and the Charles Moore Dance Theatre.
With the center looking to widen its services in the next year, Luscious is
just the kind of event the center needs to raise funds. Most of its money comes
from a government grant.
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