Some youth became homeless after placement in state systems of care disrupted their social support systems while others after extreme family conflict over sexual orientation. Fieldwork included eighteen months of participant observations in public spaces and at a homeless LGBT youth organization in New York City, as well as formal semi-structured interviews with 14 Latino young men and 5 staff. This ethnographic study sought to elucidate the role of sexual orientation in the pathway to housing instability among young gay men. Despite the overrepresentation of LGBT youth among the homeless, the processes leading to their homelessness are understudied.
