It was her biggest fear, and it was coming true. Her mother picked her up from school, and senior Emily Culbreath instantly knew that something was not right.

“Emily, your dad knows,” her mom said. Culbreath’s life came crashing down.

Each year, LGBT youth make up around 40% of the total population of homeless youth in America. LGBT youth are an estimated five times more likely to have attempted suicide compared to heterosexual teens, and three times more likely to suffer from mental health issues. These dangers that LGBT youth face often stem from the actions of others.

Sexuality and Gender Acceptance club vice-president senior Sydney Young is open about being a member of the LGBT community and says that coming out is like a “weight lifted off of your shoulders,” but it is something that solely belongs to the individual. Young says that “outing” someone, or revealing that someone is LGBT before they come out themselves, can put them in danger, and a lot of people do not seem to realize that.

“People can get kicked out, possibly killed [or be] sexually assaulted,” Young said. “There’s so many things that can go wrong. They’re not in a comfortable place, they may not identify with the [label] you think they do, so you could be outing them wrongly.”

 Even if someone is outed by someone else or decides to come out on their own, a support system is crucial to help ease the transition out of the closet. Freshman Chandler Ray says that they have been able to find support through their mother, but they also recognize that not everyone is able to find a support system.

“I trust her more than anyone, and I feel like everyone should have that person that they trust,” Ray said. “That’s a very comforting feeling to know that someone loves you that much.”

Unfortunately, not everyone is as lucky as Ray. After finding out that her cousin outed her to her father, Culbreath was almost kicked out at 16 and feared going home for months.

Her future was threatened as her dad did not want to contribute money toward a car or college, leading to constant bickering. Thankfully, Culbreath and her father are on better terms now. She is still “authentically [herself] without shame.”

“I felt so small and useless [after I was outed], and my whole life just got turned around,” Culbreath said. “My whole life was broken because of something that someone else decided to do to me that I wasn’t ready to do.”