Ryan McNulty

Third Place
San Francisco State University
$3,000 Scholarship and Hearst Medallion

Twenty-nine percent of San Francisco’s homeless population identifies somewhere on the LGBTQ spectrum. Although the city is working towards getting the homeless into shelters, some LGBTQ people who are homeless do not feel safe in the shelters. Many people choose to live on the streets instead of going to shelters because of this. There has been many instances of violence and sexual assault against queer people living in shelters. There is currently only one LGBTQ specific shelter for adults in the nation and it is in the Mission District of San Francisco. This story looks at what life can be like for a queer person in the shelter system and some of the dangers involved.