Youth Pride Serviceswhich includes Youth Pride Center ( YPC ) , a South Side organization that focuses on the needs of LGBTQ youths and young adults of colorhas issued an e-mail stating that 17 YPC members have been attacked in 2009.
The letter reads in part, "As with tradition, YPC sends out an email when one of our 'openly gay' youth are attacked or jumped. Our 17th attack this year is one that almost resulted in death and hopefully it will allow us to get some attention to what we see as an overlooked problem, although we keep emailing the media about it.
"This youth was simply waiting for his ride at a CTA train stop after leaving YPC University on Tuesday night. Yes he carries a handbag, wears what some would consider feminine clothes, and is obviously gay, but we at YPC along with Affinity and GenderJust feel there is not enough attention being paid to attacks on gay youth on the south and west sides by anyone. If these types of things would happen on the north side, someone would think 17 attacks in one year, from one youth center is a bit too much to handle."