The privileged, underprivileged, and unprivileged.

November 13, 2007 by Pastor Dan.

This past Sunday, we attended the 10^th annual Hollywood Interfaith Choral Festival. I was proud of our choir and its musical tornado director, Eldon Turner, for their hard work. It was also a chance to hear the Harmonies Girls Choir under the direction of the very gifted Jose Antonio Espinal, both alone and singing with Hollywood Lutheran Church’s choir in a new work by Eldon M. Turner III.  This year’s concert benefited the Harmony Project.

The Harmonies Girls Choir is comprised of girls ages 8 to 18. Although started only five years ago, the choir has already made a third concert tour to Europe.  These young girls may be seen as coming from “underprivileged” settings, and are seeing a better world open for them through music. Of course, these girls, with disciplined and coordinated voices, and matching outfits, regularly perform for “the privileged.”

Many “privileged” people like to see “the underprivileged” being showcased.  Somehow it makes us feel better about our position – we who can afford concert tickets, nice clothes to go out in public, and a roof over our heads (where there is a comfortable bed and a computer to write blogs on.)  If young people are somehow making progress from “underprivileged” places in society, it seems to ease our own consciences about the positions we have and the places we live in.

But contrast these underprivileged children with the “unprivileged” – those who are homeless children in Los Angeles, in California (over 100,000) and across the nation: Estimates are that one million youth are homeless in America.

This November has been designated the first-ever “National Homeless Youth Awareness Month” by resolutions of Congress. Virgin Mobile has launched “The RE*Generation” project to help, and to seek other corporate sponsors.  Other organizations are connecting the dots of their efforts, including Fannie Mae Foundation’s Help the Homeless Program. It is impressive that Virgin Mobile’s efforts have already raised $3 million, but that’s only 3 bucks per kid – not even enough to eat one meal.

According to the National Runaway Switchboard, somewhere between 1.6 and 2.8 million youth run away from home each year. http://www.1800runaway.org/.  The reasons are complex, painful and tragic.  Kids on the street are more subject to sexual abuse and prostitution, drugs and substance abuse, despair and other forces which contribute to suicidality.

Our parish has been involved with youth homelessness by directly supporting the work of the Jeff Griffith Youth Center residential program, which keeps 24 youth off the streets of Hollywood, teaches them skills, helps them finish their GED and helps them find employment to build a future. I’m proud of what we’ve done these past three years, and hope our small community will keep its prior commitment to help LGBT youth.

Youth homelessness is an issue we must own in the LGBT community.  Many young people who do flee their childhood homes, or are ruthlessly expelled from them, are sexual minorities and misfits.  I wrote about Jeremy in Denver in the Lutherans Concerned/Los Angeles Light of Christ newsletter five years ago, and will try to re-post that article soon.

Your homework assignment starts here:

• Virgin Mobile’s introduction to the issue: http://www.virginmobileusa.com/regeneration/. It also has a column of relevant web sites here.
• Good Magazine’s presentation of the Virgin Mobile project
• The Trevor Project, which operates the nation’s only 24-hour youth suicide prevention hotline.
• Also see: Home Walk L.A. - this coming Saturday November 17.

— Pastor Dan Hooper, Los Angeles

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