Our Chicago: HRC's State of Emergency & One Roof Chicago
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Just a few days into Pride Month, the Human Rights Campaign declared a state of emergency saying LGBTQ+ Americans are under attack.
The HRC is the country's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer civil rights organization.
The organization's president, Kelley Robinson, said the declaration is a call to action for "people in power at every level" of government and business. Sarah Warbelow is the Vice President of Legal for the Human Rights Campaign. She explained what led to this declaration, "We found ourselves in a moment of an escalation of attacks on LGBTQ people. You know, we were concerned in 2015 when there were 130 pieces of negative legislation that were aimed at our community nationwide. Today, we've had more than 525 pieces of legislation attacking our community with 78 of them to date becoming law. That is a very serious moment of attack on the LGBTQ community." So what does this emergency declaration mean? "It's a declaration that we need the full support and help vocally from lawmakers at every level of government from our business partners, from our community partners," said Warbelow, "And it's a recognition that parents are having to make really hard decisions about whether to stay or go from their communities."
Here in Chicago, One Roof Chicago is working to establish a community bringing together LGBTQ+ people across a range of ages. It would provide housing for young people, seniors and people living with HIV.
The goal is to ensure all of those groups have a place to call home where they are supported and accepted. Jim Harvey is the Executive Director of One Roof Chicago. He talked about the origin of this idea, "It came from a lot of data and reality that the aging LGBTQ+ population intersecting with a lot of young people who are experiencing homelessness and near homelessness need some solutions. " According to One Roof Chicago, LGBTQ+ youth are more likely to experience homelessness than their peers. 25% of Black youth between the ages of 18 and 25 experience homelessness. And more than three quarters of LGBTQ+ seniors are apprehensive about entering long-term care facilities. Many experience verbal or physical harassment. The majority go back into the closet.
The hope of One Roof Chicago is to create about 100 units of housing on the south side. Harvey says across the country, there are projects that address one piece of the need or another, "But the coming together of all of these needs under one roof, if you will, is very unique and it's really catching on and capturing the attention of people around the country and, if you will, even around the world."
