pier kids: the life – trailer

When asked by Fader “Why was it so important for you to tell this story?”, the director’s response was as followed: “The largest fixed population of homeless people in the United States are LBGTQ youth. They make up 40 to 60 percent of all registered homeless people in the United States—and that’s just registered. Of that percentage, over half of them are of color. So what I’ve experienced, what Krystal’s experienced, what DeSean and Casper have experienced—this is an epidemic within the black community. If you are homeless, you are eight times more likely to become HIV-positive. So, this film is meant to combat the twin epidemics of homelessness that statistically seems to be leading to HIV/AIDS infection. It’s really about creating an opportunity for all Americans, but especially the black family, to start talking about homophobia and transphobia so that they stop kicking their kids out into the street and causing this cycle of infection and premature death. And it’s to reach out to everybody in America and say, “What kind of community are we that we can allow children to be erased?””