LGBTHomelessYouth

possible homelessness. Passing the Runaway and Homeless Youth Inclusion Act
and the Reconnecting Youth to Prevent Homelessness Act would be an investment
in family-centered interventions, and passing the Safe Schools Improvement
Act and the Student Non-Discrimination Act would ensure that LGBT youth
do not end up in the juvenile justice system for protecting themselves from the
discrimination they face on a daily basis at school.
LGBT youth also need to be protected from discriminatory treatment in the
juvenile justice systems. Passage of federal protections prohibiting discrimination
on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity and expression in
all areas of the juvenile justice and detention systems is crucial. Additionally,
amendment of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act, or SORNA,
to clarify that youth convicted of certain sex-based offenses should be exempted
from mandatory sex-offender registration would help alleviate the long-lasting
negative impact for LGBT youth who are convicted of engaging in consensual
same-sex sexual activity.
Finally, more robust data are needed to quantify and address the criminalization of
LGBT youth. In particular, the Department of Education’s school discipline datacollection
systems should include collection of both sexual orientation and gender
identity data that captures information on the experiences of bullying among
LGBT youth and on the rates of disciplinary action taken against these students.
34 Center for American Progress | Seeking Shelter