Unsheltered Rainbows: Meaning of Home among Homeless and Runaway Sexual Minority

Abstract

Home is a warm refuge for many individuals; however, some were not gifted and became unsheltered. Various sociopolitical factors include multiple layers of oppression, mental health, and unsatisfactory relationship scaffold rootlessness. The study aimed to explore the meanings of home among seven gay homeless and runaways. They were recruited through homogenous purposive and snowball sampling. It charted the track of interpretative phenomenological qualitative research and employed photovoice, a visual methodology. Participants were 18 and above self-identified gay men who had experienced youth homelessness for over a year. Framework analysis and triangulation were employed for the interpretation and validation. For the results, the cohort’s meanings of home are forming a non-normative family (nourishing emotional connection with significant non-relatives and achievement of heteronormative goal), characteristics of a home (physical qualities and experiential qualities), positive and emotional environment, emblem of achievement, and genuine parental acceptance. Findings suggest that birth-home and homelessness experiences contribute to conceptualizing and characterizing home as a physical structure and experience. Thus, diversity and inclusivity are social issues that need to be highlighted.

Keywords

• Homelessness, Meaning of home, LGBT, Photovoice, Runaway