Ali Forney
Encyclopedia
Ali He’shun Forney was an African-American gay
and transgender
youth who also used the name Luscious. He was a peer counselor of and advocate for homeless lesbian
, gay
, bisexual
, and transgender
(LGBT
) youth and was killed on the street in Harlem
. The Ali Forney Center for homeless LGBT youth was named after him when it opened in June 2002.
Forney was born in Charlotte, North Carolina
and raised in Brooklyn, New York by a single mother. He said that he first became a prostitute at 13, and that the $40 made him feel rich "like Donald Trump." Rejected by his family, it was at 13 that he was put in a group home, from which he soon ran away. He was in a series of foster placements, but found the streets preferable. He continued to work as a prostitute, often in women's clothing. He admitted to using crack cocaine
"because it eased the degradation and fear of selling himself." He was arrested and jailed many times.
When he was 17, he joined the Safe Horizon Streetwork program, where counselors helped him acquire a Social Security card and a medical card. He completed his GED
and, at the time of his death, had started to work with the staff to help other homeless youth. When he turned 18, he received a settlement for a childhood car accident, but remained estranged from his family and was ineligible for city youth shelters after his 19th birthday. Proudly HIV
-negative, he became good at peer counseling and promoted safety, carrying a pocketful of condom
s and offering them to drug dealers. He said, "I became a peer educator because I see so many HIV-infected people on the stroll. Even now, there are people who don't know how to use condoms." In 1996 he was invited to San Francisco to tell social workers about the needs of homeless transgendered youth.
At 4 am on December 5, 1997 he was found by the police shot on the sidewalk in front of a housing project on East 131st Street. According to the New York Times he was the third young transgender prostitute murdered in Harlem in 14 months. The killing has never been solved.
An unusually large number of people attended Forney's memorial service: 70 or 75. When Carl Siciliano started a center for homeless GLBT youth in New York in 2002, he named it the Ali Forney Center in his memory.
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
and transgender
Transgender
Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....
youth who also used the name Luscious. He was a peer counselor of and advocate for homeless lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
, gay
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
, bisexual
Bisexuality
Bisexuality is sexual behavior or an orientation involving physical or romantic attraction to both males and females, especially with regard to men and women. It is one of the three main classifications of sexual orientation, along with a heterosexual and a homosexual orientation, all a part of the...
, and transgender
Transgender
Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....
(LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
) youth and was killed on the street in Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
. The Ali Forney Center for homeless LGBT youth was named after him when it opened in June 2002.
Forney was born in Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the seat of Mecklenburg County. In 2010, Charlotte's population according to the US Census Bureau was 731,424, making it the 17th largest city in the United States based on population. The Charlotte metropolitan area had a 2009...
and raised in Brooklyn, New York by a single mother. He said that he first became a prostitute at 13, and that the $40 made him feel rich "like Donald Trump." Rejected by his family, it was at 13 that he was put in a group home, from which he soon ran away. He was in a series of foster placements, but found the streets preferable. He continued to work as a prostitute, often in women's clothing. He admitted to using crack cocaine
Crack cocaine
Crack cocaine is the freebase form of cocaine that can be smoked. It may also be termed rock, hard, iron, cavvy, base, or just crack; it is the most addictive form of cocaine. Crack rocks offer a short but intense high to smokers...
"because it eased the degradation and fear of selling himself." He was arrested and jailed many times.
When he was 17, he joined the Safe Horizon Streetwork program, where counselors helped him acquire a Social Security card and a medical card. He completed his GED
GED
General Educational Development tests are a group of five subject tests which, when passed, certify that the taker has American or Canadian high school-level academic skills...
and, at the time of his death, had started to work with the staff to help other homeless youth. When he turned 18, he received a settlement for a childhood car accident, but remained estranged from his family and was ineligible for city youth shelters after his 19th birthday. Proudly HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
-negative, he became good at peer counseling and promoted safety, carrying a pocketful of condom
Condom
A condom is a barrier device most commonly used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy and spreading sexually transmitted diseases . It is put on a man's erect penis and physically blocks ejaculated semen from entering the body of a sexual partner...
s and offering them to drug dealers. He said, "I became a peer educator because I see so many HIV-infected people on the stroll. Even now, there are people who don't know how to use condoms." In 1996 he was invited to San Francisco to tell social workers about the needs of homeless transgendered youth.
At 4 am on December 5, 1997 he was found by the police shot on the sidewalk in front of a housing project on East 131st Street. According to the New York Times he was the third young transgender prostitute murdered in Harlem in 14 months. The killing has never been solved.
An unusually large number of people attended Forney's memorial service: 70 or 75. When Carl Siciliano started a center for homeless GLBT youth in New York in 2002, he named it the Ali Forney Center in his memory.