YOUTH
Return of 24-Hour Subway Impacts LGBTQ Youth
Some homeless queer people turned to risky overnight options during shutdown
BY TAT BELLAMY-WALKER
Governor Andrew Cuomo
announced that the
city would resume 24-
hour subway service on
May 17 — and advocates say that
should have a key impact on homeless
LGBTQ individuals.
“For a long time, the subway system
has been the shelter or at least
the last refuge,” Kate Barnhart,
the director of New Alternatives, a
non-profi t organization for homeless
LGBT youth, told Gay City
News. “We still don’t have enough
emergency shelter beds for LGBTQ
youth. But with the subways open
all night, young people who can’t
get a shelter bed can be inside and
out of the weather.”
The MTA shut down subways
from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. last year to
disinfect and clean the cars, and
in February, the state reduced
cleaning hours from 2 a.m. to 4
a.m. Now, as ridership increases
and more people return to work,
Cuomo said fully reopening the
subway is the next step.
“COVID-19 is on the decline in
New York City and across New York
State, and as we shift our focus to
rebuilding our economy, helping
businesses, and putting people
back to work, it’s time to bring
the Subway back to full capacity,”
Cuomo said. “We reduced subway
service more than a year ago to
disinfect our trains and combat
the rising tide of COVID cases, and
we’re going to restore 24-hour service
as New York gets back on the
right track. This expansion will
help working people, businesses,
and families get back to normal as
the city reopens and reimagines itself
for a new future.”
While the deep cleaning process
was welcomed by some folks,
it also ended up disrupting the
lives of several homeless New Yorkers.
Cuomo acknowledged in his
press conference that there were
fewer homeless individuals on the
train during the overnight hours
because they were referred to supportive
services. Others, however,
were forced to steer clear of the
The return of 24-hour subway service is a lifeline for homeless LGBTQ New Yorkers.
subways because they knew the
trains were closed overnight.
Nobody wants the MTA to now
go back to the old days,” he said.
“So I told the MTA — for my two
cents — 24-hour service, yes, but
trains must remain clean, we have
to help the homeless, and we can’t
go backwards on the quality of service.”
For homeless LGBTQ New Yorkers,
the return of subway service
can mean a safe place to sleep at
night following a shutdown that
took at toll on marginalized communities.
Barnhart some young
homeless queer people were forced
to engage in survival sex work and
others endured harsh conditions
during the winter months.
When LGBTQ youth are forced
into sex work due to homelessness,
it makes them vulnerable to abuse,
she said.
“The diffi culty with people having
to do survival sex for a place
to stay is that it’s not a choice,”
Barnhart said. “Psychologically, it
is problematic, but also, it puts the
young people at a disadvantage in
terms of negotiating things around
safety.”
The pandemic has had a devastating
effect on queer homeless
youth, with many struggling to
meet their basic needs, including
access to showers, clean clothes,
mental health services, and hot
meals. Pre-pandemic, New Alternatives
provided sit-down meals
for homeless LGBTQ youth, and
now they are only offering to-go
food to clients. Despite the city’s
robust vaccination efforts, homeless
REUTERS/BRENDAN MCDERMID
populations are still lagging
behind in vaccinations.
“We’re working on getting the
vaccines to come to us,” Barnhart
said. “Trying to get homeless youth
to navigate that complex process is
just not realistic.”
The calls to reopen subways
were amplifi ed by lawmakers, including
out gay State Senator Brad
Hoylman, who introduced legislation
calling for the city to return
to 24-hour subway service unless
there is a state of emergency. That
measure only passed the Senate,
but he was nonetheless happy to
see the service restored by the governor.
“The city that never sleeps, once
again, will have a transit system
that never sleeps,” he wrote in a
tweet.
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