New Memoir Explores the Lives of Homeless Youth
December 2, 2008 by Sarah
LGBT activist and youth advocate Justin Reed Early has released a new memoir entitled STREETCHILD: An Unpaved Passage. In the book, Early tells of his experiences as a homeless youth on the streets of Seattle and how he came to develop a successful career in the music industry in New York and Los Angeles.
Justin Early
After years of living as a homeless youth, Early went on to become a public speaker and educator in San Francisco and Seattle and worked in the music industry as a promoter and disc jockey in New York and Los Angeles. He was a co-founding Board Member of the HIV and AIDS youth agency, BAY Positives in San Francisco and served on the Youth Commission for the City and County of San Francisco Mayor’s Office.
Tune into SiriusXM Radio (Channel 109) “OutQ In The Morning with Larry Flick” on December 11 at 8:00 AM (EST) to hear Early discuss his literary journey.
And on Tuesday, December 16, Early will be hosting a reading and benefit in Seattle. Actor Tom Skerritt is set to introduce the author. For more information, please click here.
San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles benefits to follow…
You can purchase STREETCHILD: An Unpaved Passage at the book’s official site, or through Amazon.com, Target.com and BarnesandNoble.com. Hard cover is $19.99 and paperback is $15.99.
A portion of the proceeds will benefit life enhancing non-profit organizations including GLAAD, Walden House, Youthcare, Larkin Street Youth Services, The Actors Fund and National Network for Youth – just to name a few…
And to get a feel for what it was like for Early growing up homeless in Seattle, here is the trailer for the 1984 Academy Award-nominated documentary STREETWISE, in which he participated.
I look forward to reading Justin’s book, it’s so important for those of us in the LGBTQ community who have been homeless to tell our stories. Queer youth homelessness is one of the most important issues facing our community today. It is estimated that over 40% of the homeless youth in the United States identify as LGBTQ. This is truly epidemic.
For folks interested in more information about queer youth homelessness, I’m the editor of an anthology titled Kicked Out that will be released October 2009 from Homofactus Press. The anthology brings together the voices of current and former homeless LGBTQ youth, including voices from youth currently on the streets to community members who grew up in the 1950’s and all of us in-between.
Our foreword was written by Judy Shepard (mother of Matthew Shepard) and we include the voices of organizations like The Task Force, Family Builders, The Circus Project, and The National Alliance to End Homelessness. We have also been endorsed by PFLAG-National.
You can learn more about Kicked Out, how to be an ally to homeless youth, how we as a community can stop the epidemic on our website: http://www.KickedOutAnthology.com
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Sassafras Lowrey
Sassafras@KickedOutAnthology.com
http://www.KickedOutAnthology.com
http://www.PoMoFreakshow.com
Author of:
Kicked Out
GSA to Marriage: Stories of a Life Lived Queerly