By Owen Bister
The LGBT community faces many struggles that are shared among other minority or under-represented groups, such as where they are going to live or where their next meal is coming from. There is a large population of LGBT youth that are shunned from their homes and cast out by their families, purely on the basis of sexual/gender orientation.
The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law makes the claim that an estimated 40% of homeless youth identify as LGBT; given such a high percentage of LGBT community members affected by the issue, Miley Cyrus felt compelled to take action and start her own foundation dedicated to the cause. She believes, as do I, that there is no negative for advocating for gender, sexual orientation, or racial equality, and that the media is not doing enough. It is up to the younger generations to lead the fight for equality.
I originally came across the Happy Hippie Foundation when it was first founded in 2015, as I have considered Miley Cyrus to always be an incredible person who advocates for the LGBT community. Her foundation was created to empower troubled youth or displaced youth, and to give them the resources to further their lives in the most positive ways.
What Kinds Of Resources Are Offered?
The Happy Hippie foundation offers a wide variety of resources addressing multiple areas of concern within the homeless LGBT youth. One example of an organization offered as a resource is the Los Angeles LGBT Center, which is the largest LGBT resource center in the world that provides programs, services, and advocacy work in four categories: Health, Social Services and Housing, Culture and Education, and Leadership and Advocacy. This is just one example of how the Happy Hippie foundation is an amazing foundation because it doesn’t just preach advocacy but connects people to advocacy and enables those important connections to be made.
The foundation does not only offer resources for LGBT homeless youth, but also encourages everyone to advocate for whatever cause they feel deserves attention. Which is why there is another section of the website that contains links to organizations regarding animal rights, mental health, womens rights, and social justice; the foundation was created to enable anyone wanting to make an impact in their own lives or others’ possible.
Whats Missing From the Organization?
We can gather the collective opinion that the Happy Hippie Foundation is one advocating for equality for everyone, regardless of background. However, one thing that I noticed about the foundation that could lessen its credibility is how it does not seem very current and/or making direct changes on a daily level.
Besides spreading the word on social media, which is useful but ultimately unsuccessful in terms of action probability, and contributing donations to the organizations they are paired up with, the foundation is not doing anything to advocate in different communities and spread awareness in person. From learning about the different waves of feminism, we have seen success in people-to-people rallies and organizations and less effectiveness from letter-writing or pamphlet campaigns.
The Happy Hippie foundation is ultimately doing an amazing job at spreading awareness and advocacy work for the LGBT homeless youth population. Without organizations like these, the LGBT community and youth homeless populations will continue to face hardship and adversity. Happy Hippie is all about giving back to the community and ensuring that everyone who needs help is attended to in some way.