OutLoud Chicago and In Our Words present: Word is Out a reading series of queers and company telling their stories. On Tuesday July 17th, we will be hearing stories about and surrounding the queer homeless youth crises in Chicago at Town Hall Pub, 8pm.$5 admission includes a companion zine with work from show contributors.

Twenty-six percent of LGBTQ youth were kicked out of their homes when they came out (that’s over a quarter of LGBTQ youth.) Queer youth are seven times more likely to be victims of crime and three times more likely to engage in survival sex. There are 15,000 homeless youth in Chicago and up to 40% of them identify as queer.

The Night Ministry’s The Crib not only provides queer homeless youth with food and shelter throughout the night, but with a sense of community and confidence–empowering them as they search for housing and employment. It is the only shelter of its kind in the Midwest and the only resource for youth from Chicago and several surrounding states. Unfortunately, due to lack of funding, The Crib recently went from being a year-round homeless shelter to only being available from October 1st to April 30th. If there are 15,000 homeless youth in Chicago and 40% of them identify as queer, that means 6,000 homeless youth no longer have a safe place in Chicago over night. Where will these youth go?

We believe that this is a human issue, not just an economic or social one. To show all sides of the crises, we are inviting stories from youth shelter administrators and survivors of homeless youth. The event will be hosted by the creator of the queer homeless youth fundraising series We Are Halsted Adam Guerino (Outloud Chicago/www.adamguerino.com,) and feature Patrick Gill (Inourwordsblog.com,) Mar Curran (The Video Action League,) Nate Metrick (The Night Ministry coordinator from The Crib,) and singers from the upcoming fundraiser We Are Halsted July 25th (www.facebook.com/WeAreHalsted.)

OutLoud Chicago is a production effort from Adam Guerino to bring queer entertainment to the mainstream. InOurWordsBlog.com is an independent queer activist and literary salon founded in 2011 by Nico Lang and Patrick Gill.

To keep up with updates on comedy, music and other shows that bring queer entertainment to the mainstream, “like” http://www.facebook.com/outloudchicago