LGBT Book & Video Blog

Times Slide Show: Gimme Shelter

A new book of documentary photographs, “Shelter,” examines a group of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender young people living, off and on, at a homeless shelter in Hell’s Kitchen — a group for whom growing up could hardly be more difficult. That the book is the product of a 27-year-old photographer who is gay, grew up in poverty and once lived in a homeless shelter himself explains its empathetic tone and morally urgent message.

The photographer, Lucky S. Michaels, shot roughly 4,000 images over three years, 2003 to 2006, while he worked as an overnight counselor at the shelter, Sylvia’s Place, which is run by the Metropolitan Community Church of New York, at 446 West 36th Street, between Ninth and 10th Avenues.

The 120 images in the 192-page book — at once intimate, stark and unsparing — are interspersed with first-person accounts and a brief narrative written by Mr. Michaels with Tanino Minneci, a social worker at the shelter. The book portrays a cast of characters, but four young people referred to only by their street names — are its center:

• Malice, a bisexual man with tattoos on his arms and a fondness for hanging out in the East Village, who held jobs at a museum and a deli — and also made money by selling drugs — before being brutally beaten in Central Park by a man wielding a skateboard.
• Eternity, a lesbian, fond of black lipstick and spiked bracelets, with a harrowing personal history. She was raped by her brother at age 11, began cutting herself heavily at 15, and moved out to live with a sister at age 16, only to be sexually molested by a relative.
• Charlene, a transgender woman who has used a variety of names, including Jennifer and Janet, and now calls herself Natasha Ray. She was raised by two hard-working, well-meaning parents, but then her father died and, after 9/11, her mother lost her job and her house. After sleeping on buses, on trains and in parks, Charlene found herself in a shelter run by Covenant House, where she said she was beaten up because of her sexual identity.
• Benji, a gay man from Indiana who became known as the Mayor of Sylvia’s. He was kicked out of the house after his father, who lived in New York, learned he was gay, and became a user and seller of crystal meth. He contracted H.I.V. from a boyfriend, a lawyer and drug user who became abusive.

In the introduction, the Rev. Pat Bumgardner, the pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church of New York, whose church is part of a spiritual movement that ministers to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, writes that some studies have estimated that as many as 30,000 young people are homeless in New York City — and that about one-third identify themselves, in some way, as “queer.” Such youths are more likely to become victims of violence, abuse drugs, get infected with H.I.V. or become mentally ill than homeless youths who are straight, according to the Empire State Coalition, an advocacy group for homeless and runaway youngsters in New York.

Much more of Giving Them Shelter: Portraits of Young Lives in Limbo @ New York Times, United States

NB:

A few other programs also serve homeless gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youths, including the Ali Forney Center on West 35th Street, founded in 2002, and Green Chimneys, a longstanding charity based in Brewster, N.Y., with locations in New York City.

Sylvia’s Place has inspired other documentary projects; in 2005, The Times published images and narratives of young people at the shelter by the photographer Willie Davis.

• Why not purchase a copy of this book for your local library or high school library?