kicked out family

The Kicked Out anthology has brought together the voices of  current and former homeless LGBTQ youth and organizations who are dedicated to ending the epidemic of queer youth homelessness, and breaking down the silencing that those who have been kicked out face

Sassafras Lowrey Kicked Out Editor

Foreword by Judy Shepard

mother of Matthew Shepard and Executive Director of the Mathew Shepard Foundation

Kicked Out Anthology Contributors:

Anthony has been advocating for the rights of  marginalized people for most of his life. As a product of the foster care and social services systems he has overcome many struggles and succeed when people told him he would fail. He has been involved with many LGBTQ advocacy groups over the years. He was one of the organziers for the first ever Oregon Queer Youth Conference, he was active in lobbying efforts, speaking on panels, facilitating GSA groups in high schools, and was a part of the performance troupe, Langauge of Paradox with Kate Bornstein. Anthony has been working with homless youth for over five years. In his current position he is working with homeless youth sas alcohol and drug counselor and he is also going to school part time to finish a bachelor’s degree in social work. When Anothony has free time he enjoys playing with his dog, spending time with friends, writing, and creating mail art and collages.

Angie Guerra. Sedona, Arizona. In 2001 Angie Guerra graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mass Communication and Journalism.  Through her work with Visit Milwaukee, Milwaukee’s convention and visitors bureau, as a member of their LGBT Advisory Team, Angie soon discovered her passion for working within the LGBT community.   This passion led her to seek a career in working full-time for the Milwaukee LGBT Community Center.  There she served in a number of different roles.  As the first Director of Development, and as the Center grew, so did its staff.  That position blossomed into two roles, and Angie then became the Director of Development and Marketing and eventually the Director of Communications.  Angie also spent her free time volunteering for a number of different organizations promoting the community at large.  The Women’s Fund of Greater Milwaukee, where Angie served as the co-chair on the Lesbian Fund, the Hispanic Professionals of Milwaukee and as a member of the 41/26 Venture Committee which was formed as a way to recognize LGBT leaders.  Through this opportunity Angie helped develop the “Gay Neighbor Billboard Campaign” to address issues such as being denied marriage rights, facing job discrimination, lack of domestic partnership healthcare coverage, adoption and parenting issues, as well as being targets of attacks based on perceived sexual orientation or gender non-conformity.  Most recently Angie is serving on the Sedona Pride Association as secretary.

Anne G. I’m a person who hates labels and other attempts to affix static meaning, yet feels compelled to try to pin the world down with words. Hence, the labels I’d staple to myself if forced to choose: lesbian, writer, student, seeker, androgynously femme. I was born and raised in what most Americans consider fly-over country: Kansas City. I write manifestoes but am inherently distrustful of them; I seek definitions only in order to deconstruct them. I overuse parentheses and semicolons and someday this poor stylistic habit will spiral out of control; I will write an entire essay composed of a single sentence (and associated parentheticals). Ultimately my goal is to give and receive the maximum amount of love, and to accumulate the fewest possible moldering regrets. Besides the biological basics–nourishment and air–I can’t survive without a steady stream of art supplies, fresh notebooks, touch and caffeine. I also thank my chosen family for the support and encouragement that has sustained me all these years.

Booh Edouardo received a BFA and MFA from California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). His artwork has been featured at many private and public venues. He currently studies as a MA candidate at San Francisco State University and volunteers as a tutor with Project Read at City College of San Francisco. The anthology Why Are Faggots so Afraid of Faggots edited by Mattilda (a.k.a.: Matt Bernstein Sycamore) will feature more of his writing.

kay ulanday barrett is a performer, poet, educator, and martial artist. Kay connects life as a pin@y-amerikan trans/queer navigating struggle, resistance,and laughter in the u.s. In Mango Tribe and in solo work, kay has featured in colleges, cafes, and stages internationally. honors include: venus zine’s featured reader, LGBTQ 30 under 30 awards, Crossroads Fund individual activist award, finalist in The Gwendolyn brooks Open-Mic Award, a feature in the documentary film BAKLA/TOMBOY: Filipino Gay & Lesbians in the U.S. and most recently, a contribution in the anthology Kicked Out released by Homofactus Press in 2009. for kay’s online swerve see: kaybarrett.net

E. F. Schraeder‘s creative work has appeared in Blue Collar Review and New Verse News.  Since completing a doctoral program (ethics and social justice) she has worked and volunteered with community projects ranging from urban art programming to LGBTQ political organizing and has facilitated writing workshops and other programs for LGBTQ youth groups. A former college prof, she now works as Research Director for a health and wellness organization.  When she isn’t working or writing, she’s with her dogs or gardening (or gardening with her dogs). When she isn’t doing any of those things, and sometimes while she is, she is thinking about writing, dogs, and gardening

Jenn Cohen, Founder & Artistic/Executive Director of The Circus Project: Jenn Cohen has worked as a professional circus performer and coach for over 15 years. Her training includes: The Circus Space in London, Dell’ Arte International School of Physical Theatre, sacred clown & buffoon with Sue Morrison, and Chinese acrobatics with Master Lu Yi at the San Francisco Circus Center. Jenn has performed extensively in ensemble theaters throughout the United States, and as a solo aerial artist in Europe. She has coached children and adults in aerial and acrobatic work, from very beginners to advanced and professional students. In addition, she has worked as a choreography consultant for companies including Teatro Zin Zanni (San Francisco) and UMO Ensemble (Seattle). Jenn was a tenured instructor at the San Francisco Circus Center from 2001 to 2004.  Upon moving to Portland, Jenn worked with both Do Jump! and Pendulum Aerial Dance. She graduated Summa Cum Laude with a B.S. in psychology from Portland State University and recently received a MA in Process Oriented Psychology from the Process Work Institute in Portland.  In addition to her work with The Circus Project, Jenn offers workshops in aerial improvisation and Process Oriented Psychology across the globe.

Kestryl Cael is a performer, activist, culture-maker, and gender revolutionary. When forced to choose a label, he identifies as a transgender butch. Kestryl Cael has appeared at conferences, colleges, festivals, and local theatres across North America . Whether on-stage or behind a podium, he considers it his artistic duty to engage his audiences in provocative dialogue without letting them take him (or themselves) too seriously.  Kestryl was a member of “The Language of Paradox,” a performance ensemble founded and directed by Kate Bornstein.  His writing appears in anthologies such as Kicked Out (Fall 2009, Homofactus Press), and he is half of the performance duo, PoMo Freakshow.  His one-queer-show, XY(T), has been described as “provocative,” “brave,” “appealingly wry,” “heartfelt,” “profound,” and “essential.”

KLP: Born in the USSR, KJP grew up in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn ( back when it was pretty much all Sicilian). After getting kicked out at the beginning of his senior year in High School, KJ discovered a terminal inability to shut up, which led to years of advocacy for the rights of LGBT youth. Having recently graduated from Hunter College ( CUNY), he is back in Bensonhurst, trying to get into law school and still can’t shut up.

L. Wolf I am a twenty year old genderqueer transboy that lives in Philadelphia, PA. When I’m not writing, I spend my time out in parks, reading and playing the guitar. I go to college for Liberal Arts, though I’m not sure I what I want to do with my life. I own one cat and live with three others plus a Russian Tortise and an amazing room mate. I love animals. I also struggle with depression and I hope to someday put that behind me.

Mx. Mirage I am a radically queer trannyboi with a big mouth. I flip flop between being femme and not being femme. I don’t think I could ever live without my writing. It doesn’t matter if other people hear me or I lose my sight, my words are always with me. I write and perform slam poetry and stories. The queer community has given me so much strength, I once thought I was invincible. I no longer believe so, but when you catch a group of us together, we are one and we are a force to be reckoned with. I believe in the abilities of queer youth and all queers, really. The possibilities are endless and now’s the time to stand for something. Much love and solidarity,

At 27 years old, Lucky Stephen Michaels has experienced more than most people twice his age. Born in Ohio, but raised in Detroit Michigan, Lucky grew up with his  three brothers and his single mother in an environment riddled with poverty, surrounded by people who were abusive, involved in drugs, and leaving his family homeless and struggling to survive.  IN the spring of 2003, Reverend Pat Bumgardner of Metropolitan Community Church  of New York, invited Lucky to help open Sylvia’s Place, New York’s first emergency shelter for LGBTQ youth and young adults. He began working as an overnight counselor,  he has been instrumental in the creation of the new Marsha P. Johnson Center, a 24-hour drop in center for LGBTQ youth and young adults and continues to work full-time as the program’s outreach director. Lucky is the author of “Shelter” which features his photographs of the residents.

Nat Roslin I’m a genderqueer femail presenting lesbian, who chooses words over fists. I can be in femme mode one minute and boi mode the next, finding my place as one of the boys at work or a so-called fag hag with a lot of gay male friends. I’m as happy surrounded by drag queens with feather boas and sequinned dresses as I am sitting on the beach, reading and not being amidst the attention. If there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s that family is what you make it. Sometimes your friends are the only family you can rely on. And thankfully I have a fair few in the queer community and several outside of the queer community who have helped me through some difficult times. I’ve always been encourage to write, to let my feelings out in a way I feel comfortable. Poetry, prose, anything that enables me to get my message out. I’ve learned the hard way that words have power. I believe that if we want to change the world we have to fight for what we believe and share our experiences with others. It’s only by sharing our knowledge that we’ll get to where we want to be.

Nick Ray took an absurdly circuitous route to the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to serve as lead author for the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force’s report on the epidemic of homelessness among LGBT youth.Born in England, he traversed the Rainbow Bridge at Niagara Falls and entered the United States for the first time at the age of 18. Overwhelmed by the sheer bravado of Mario Cuomo placing an outsize picture of himself on a billboard above the bridge, he determined then and there that he would, one day, return to these United States and make them his home.After completing a Diploma in Accounting and a BA in Politics and History at Oxford Brookes University, Nick moved to the United States for graduate school. MA degrees in Political Science (at the University of Rhode Island) and Higher Education (from the University of Arizona) followed, interspersed with various (all short!) spells of usually gainful employment. In the spring of 2005 he joined the Task Force’s Policy Institute and immediately began work on a project that became his signature piece of work. He has travelled the country discussing this work with LGBTQ youth, their families, their advocates and social service professionals who really DO want to do a better job of working with this underserved population. Nothing in his life to date, and it’s been nearly 4 decades, has impacted or inspired him as much as the young homeless LGBT youth he’s met in the course of this work. He left the Task Force in the summer of 2008 and if you want to know where he is today…please look him up on facebook!

Philip J. Reeves, born in Minnesota grew up in a small town in North Dakota.  After coming out as a gay man and losing his family, he found a new family and they moved to Buffalo, NY together.  He finished his B.A. in English in May 2009 and is now pursuing a career in the law.  Phil enjoys helping people and wants to use his experiences to make a difference.

Richard Hooks Wayman is the Senior Youth Policy Analyst for the National Alliance to End Homelessness.  Formerly the Public Policy Campaign Director for the Minnesota Youth Service Association, Mr. Hooks Wayman authored the Minnesota Runaway and Homeless Youth Act and the Minnesota Youth Advancement Act.  Rich received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Iowa College of Law in 1992 and worked as a public interest litigator for the Legal Aid Society of Minneapolis for eight years, primarily focused on disability civil rights, housing, and family law.  Rich left Legal Aid to serve as the Collaborative Director of StreetWorks for six years.   The StreetWorks Collaborative is comprised of ten youth-serving agencies providing street-based outreach to homeless and runaway youth in the Twin Cities metropolitan area.  While at StreetWorks, Rich coauthored a national training manual – StreetWorks: Best Practices and Standards in Outreach Methodology to Homeless Youth.  Rich also represents abused and neglected youth in juvenile court on a pro bono basis and has been a foster parent.

Sabine T. Vasco: In 3rd grade, Sabine T. Vasco won her school’s creative writing contest with whimsical tales of her desire to grow up, move to Asia, and shoot tigers–with her camera. The following summer, her grandmother destroyed her Wham! Make It Big cassette by launching it into a nearby construction site, which she attempted to recoup by enlisting the aid of her cousins. It was never recovered. At the age of 19, finding herself far from Asia, she wondered if perhaps photographing people could be just as fascinating as photographing tigers. She devoted herself to documenting the quixotic characters she encountered in her travels throughout the U.S., Amsterdam, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Mexico with her trusted 35 mm camera. Sabine has since worked in television and documentary productions for CNBC, PBS, and the Sundance Foundation, hunting for the perfect shots as a photo and film archivist. She continues on her quest for tigers and the meaning of “growing up,” but lives each day gloriously fueled by the words of Tom Robbins, “It’s never too late to have a happy childhood.”

Samantha Box, a photographer based in New York City, was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1977. Having worked for many years in the media – first at the New York Post, a daily newspaper, and later at Contact Press Images, an international photojournalism agency – she decided in 2005 to attend the International Center of Photography, where she pursued a certificate in Photojournalism and Documentary Studies. Dedicated to photography that results in social change, she has spent the past four years photographing homeless lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) youth in New York City.

Stephanie Mannis Stephanie is a full-time writer and part-time activist who lives in Philadelphia, where she has been heavily involved in GLBT organizations such as The Attic Youth Center and Sapphire Fund. When not interviewing D-list celebrities or advocating for women, queers and animals, she spends much of her time wondering why she got an MBA and how she can get into a gender studies Ph.D. program despite it. She hopes to one day be quotable, if not footnotable.

Tenzin Chodron (born Jeanne Norris) is a transgender Buddhist monk who was homeless on the streets of San Francisco, Santa Rosa, Placer County, in the Oakland Hills and on Beaches in the Santa Cruz area of California intermittently between the ages of 13 and 21 during the 1980s and 1990s. He was an exceedingly strange child who exhibited spiritual predilections and had aspirations to become a Fransican monk or a Jedi like Obi Wan Kenobi. He is a former AIDS caregiver and activist and is currently a proud parent, transgender activist, member of the Interfaith Dialogue group of Eugene, Oregon, and the Religious Response Network, a group that seeks to counter religious-based discrimination against queer people.  He graduated summa cum laude from the University of Oregon Religious Studies department in 2007 after numerous interruptions in his education throughout years in foster care and while living on the streets.  He is in the process of hormonal  and surgical morphological gender reassignment and practices Drikung Kagyu and Nyingma Tibetan Buddhism and the teachings of the gender-bending Buddhist saint Ksitigarbha.

Tommi Avicolli Mecca is a radical, southern Italian, atheist, queer writer and performer living in San Francisco. He is editor of Smash the Church, Smash the State: the early years of gay liberation. He is author of Between Little Rock and a Hard Place and co-editor of Hey Paesan: Writing by Lesbians and Gay Men of Italian Descent, and Avanti Popolo: Italian American Writers Sail Beyond Columbus. His music (which he performs with The Peaceniks) is featured at youtube.com/avimecca and his articles regularly appear at beyondchron.org.

Organizations that have supported and/or contributed to the anthology include:

The Matthew Shepard Foundation, PFLAG-National, MCCNY Homeless Youth Services: Sylvia’s Place, Family Builders, The National Alliance To End Homelessness, The Task Force, The Circus Project, GLASS