True Colors Fund

Only seven percent of the general youth population identifies as LGBTQ+, yet forty percent of that seven experiences homelessness (“9 Quick Facts About LGBT Youth Experiencing Homelessness”). LGBT homelessness is often referred to as an “invisible issue” because no one really pays attention to such a problem. However in just this past year, an organization called the True Colors Fund has trained and educated members of communities much like even yours on the subject of LGBT youth homelessness. True Colors Fund was founded in April 2010 by Jonny Podell, Cyndi Lauper and Lisa Barbaris in order to put a stop to homelessness in LGBT young people. In addition to educating the public, they have held a number of fundraisers, such as Pizza 4 Equality and the annual Home for the Holidays concert. True Colors Fund does many things to raise general awareness of LGBT inequalities as well as homelessness in our youth, which are all fantastic reasons to donate your time, money and support to True Colors Fund.

Most people, generally speaking, believe that there are not any homeless people in their city or town just
because they have not seen any. However, this is not always true, and True Colors Fund is working to end the ignorance of the general public. For one, True Colors Fund (although only established recently) has held their “#40toNoneDay” this past April so as to highlight the hardships as well as the general existence of the forty percent and encourage people to donate time and money to help the organization in their fight to get that forty percent down to none. In addition to this, they have also held the Forty to None Summit, a conference run mainly by True Colors Fund staff as well as government officials to discuss and debate the issues faced by LGBT youth, as well as homeless LGBT youth. Lastly, there is another annual conference held by staff and LGBT youth who have faced homelessness, called State of OUT Youth. State of OUT Youth is an event featuring select young people that identify as LGBT discussing their most pressing issues as a part of the LGBT community. The main problem here is the lack of education and knowledge about these issues, therefore, if people are taught about these things, then problems like these can be solved.

At any rate, an organization dealing with an issue such as homelessness unfortunately cannot make much of a difference based on the public’s knowledge alone. True Colors Fund does, in fact, hold fundraising and charity events. For instance, Indiana (in certain counties) has passed laws giving businesses the right to refuse service to LGBT customers (Ford, “Indiana Republicans Introduce The Most Anti-LGBT LGBT Rights Bill Ever.”).Memories Pizza, a specific pizzeria in Indiana which had refused service to a homosexual couple, in an eventual raised almost 200 thousand dollars in homophobe donations. True Colors Fund decided that they would try to match that 200 grand by launching Pizza 4 Equality, in which one donates the average cost of a pizza (about 8 USD) to benefit the True Colors Fund. In the end, Pizza 4 Equality raised $160,000, which went straight to the organization’s funding. In addition to this, Cyndi Lauper (co-founder of True Colors Fund) holds the annual True Colors Fund Home for The Holidays Concert. All proceeds go towards ending LGBT youth homelessness with True Colors Fund. According to Steve Lee on LGBTweekly.com, almost every year for the past five years, Home for The Holidays has nearly sold out to audiences of 2,800 people (Lee, “Cyndi Lauper’s True Colors Fund announces 5th annual ‘Home For The Holidays’ benefit concert line-up“). But like any organization anywhere, even with all of the funds being raised, even a small donation can make a difference.

Additionally, the True Colors Fund also deals with general awareness and equality.
There have been a number of events held that raise awareness for LGBT young people who are homeless. For example, this April, the True Colors Fund launched their first annual Forty to None Day, a day that allows people of all kinds to connect on this issue through social media. But, it is not just social media that these concerned citizens are connecting on. This past Forty to None Day, there were photo booths where people took “Unselfies”, and people held discussion groups in which they discussed how to end homelessness in LGBT youth. In addition to Forty to None Day and everything else, True Colors Fund also gives these young people a voice in the government. True Colors Fund is working with the Palette Fund right now, drafting a bill that will benefit these kids if
passed.

But naturally, there will be some who think, “This issue does not affect me in any way, why should I care?”. Just consider for a moment, the fact that these kids are the ones who will be running this country, these businesses, whether anyone really likes it or not, and they will be the generation in power very, very soon. Alternatively some will always take the usual, expected “homosexuality is wrong” route as their reason for being against it. However even if being LGBT is as awful as one could think, 40% is a lot of the homeless population. If True Colors Fund, amongst others, could get all of the LGBT youth off the streets and into a good home, then that would be almost half of the entirety of the young homeless population. Please also consider the fact that even if they enjoy relations with the same sex, or dressing in different clothes, or going by a different name, these are still kids. Given the fact that they’re still kids, pushing them out or making it so that their best option is to run away, is forcing them to grow up and face reality before it is really necessary.

Some would find True Colors Fund to be untrustworthy because it isn’t well-known, or it has not been around very long. While this organization only came about a short time ago, its staff members and volunteers are ready to donate their time, money and support for equality and safety for our youth. True Colors Fund is ready to fight for what they believe in, and they are doing all they can with what they have to work with. While there are people working with this organization already, helping to educate the community and raise their own funds, they can still use all the help they can get. Just consider the fact that it is 2015, and people are still treating each other like this. One might think that this lack of respect for our fellow human being is far behind us, but it is still here, still alive. In time, someone is going to have to do something about this.