The Atlanta Constitution from Atlanta, Georgia • 40

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Thursday, July 5,2001 B3 Gay teenagers find a home at the end of the Rainbow Troubled youth finding shelter in east Adanta D'6n 't Your Holiday iday Memories Deserve RENEE" HANNANS Staff WO LP CilfiflPRil? 7 Now In his third stint at Rainbow House, Bruce Cunningham has a Job at a nearby hardware store. The shelter "gave me the comfort I've been looking for my whole life," he said. Off; sate mi to be able to do all the normal things that normal teenagers get to do," said Asha Leong, program a. I manager at YouthPride. "It's easier to go to the movies as a straight teenager and hold your partner hand.

Some who arrive at Rainbow Home only stay for one night, said Anderson. "Some will get back together with a boyfriend that beat them up or they met Mr. Right and moved in with them," she said. No one pays rent at Rainbow Home, and there's no time limit on how long residents can stay, as By AH AN KIM aklmajc.com Wrapped in the only clothes he owned, the lonely teenager wandered from park bench to MARTA station searching for a place to sleep on the cold January night. Bruce Cunningham had lived in foster care, a mental hospital and uneasily with a mother who ultimately kicked him out of their Gwinnett County home because, he says, she couldn't cope with her son's being gay.

Cunningham then lived on the streets for several nights, with friends and in homeless shelters where he didn't feel welcome because he was gay. Finally, Cunningham landed at Rainbow Home, a shelter for gay teenagers and young adults that is the only facility of its kind in metro Atlanta. "If the Rainbow Home didn't come into my life when it did, I'd probably be dead," said Cunningham, now 19. "It gave me the comfort I've been looking for my whole life." A tiny, three-bedroom bungalow in east Atlanta, Rainbow Home looks more like a couple's modest first house than a shelter. It serves young people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or unsure of their sexual orientation.

Such teenagers would likely be harassed, beaten or even raped at large homeless shelters that serve the general population, advocates for gays say. "All of these kids came in at one point suicidal," said Kyle Anderson, program manager for Rainbow Home. "They're frustrated. They don't have anywhere stable to live, don't have any money and arrive with a lot of experimentation with drugs as a way to cope with some of the things that have happened to them." Since it opened 18 months ago, Rainbow Home has provided food, temporary shelter and support to more than 50 young people aged 17 to 21. The facility also provides free medical care, psychological counseling and programs to help the youths develop good job and life skills.

The shelter is operated by CHRIS Homes, an agency that manages group homes for homeless children and families across metro Atlanta. Some of the young people who seek help at Rainbow Home are HIV-positive. About 80 percent of those served are black men. long as they follow the rules. Curfew is 11 p.m.

on week- nights, 1 a.m. on weekends. One of hve resident counselors is on duty at all times. Residents are expected to find a job or take classes to complete Incredible Offer at Onli About 90 percent of Rainbow Home residents have been high school dropouts. National studies show that almost a third of gay teenagers report some harassment or violence at school, and 97 percent of public high school students report regularly hearing homophobic remarks at school.

In a recent survey, more than 40 percent of high school guidance counselors in metro Atlanta who conceded they knew of gay students being harassed, said the students would likely not feel safe at school. Steve Epstein, executive director of Enlight Atlanta, which conducted the survey of 110 metro Atlanta public and private high schools, said the study confirmed what activists long feared: School officials often ignore harassment of gay students. "The reason why Rainbow Home is so busy is because so many kids give up on their schools," Epstein said. "These kids need a place where they can express themselves without the fear that they will be harassed." Rainbow Home is funded through $180,000 in federal grants as well as by the United Way and private donations. The shelter can only provide six beds at a time, although two additional beds are available for emergencies.

Anderson said the shelter must turn away far more kids than it can accommodate. CHRIS Homes rents the house the shelter now occupies, but organizers hope to buy another, larger house soon. Many young people are referred to the shelter by YouthPride, a Decatur-based community center that serves about 1,500 gay youths a year. "It's a struggle for these youth their high school diploma. No sexual activity is allowed.

If a resident fails to return to the house within 48 hours without notice, their bed goes to another teenager in need. MINOLTA i A r7Z1Zs Maxxum STSI Zoom Two Lens Outfit (O Quartz databack prints time and date. Multiple CmJ I exposure modes. Red-eye reducing flash. Switch lf 1 Ji between standard and panoramic shots.

Li mmr There are, however, second and even third chances. This is Cun ningham's third stint in the house. He was kicked out twice. He prefers to talk about where he's going, though, and not where he's been. He has a job at a nearby hardware store and is working on his general equivalency diploma.

He plans to apply to college in the fall and says he wants to get a nursing degree so he can "help other people. "I actually consider myself a I ii r. human being now, Cunning ham said. "Being proud of who you are is the most important thing." For more information: (404) 586-0825 ON THE WEB: www.chrishomet.org www.youthpride.org Candidate feels 'able' to empower the people managed the.Peachtree Road Race; OLYMPUS Brio D-100 Digital Camera 1.3 megapixels. 2x digital zoom lens.

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Self timer. Auto-rewind. OUTFIT INCLUDES: Case, strap battery. I and Michael Julian Bond, who has a famous name and may get the support of Mayor Campbell. "There are times," Thomas said when asked about her strategy, "when the most qualified and most COLIN CAMPBELL ccampbellajc.com community-based person will win." "Community," "inclusive," "em BltUQM PHOTOS SERVED powerment" and "citizen participa Trained, Friendly Photographic Experts tion are some of her favorite terms.

She likes to be the "point person" for a cause. She embraces "all races, all creeds, all sexual orientations." Her popular "Think Tank Tuesdays" put citizens in "the same circle" with officials. Premium Roval Medallion Xf Her call for "balance" on gentri- I I i 1 1 Film Processing fnY 5-Minute Instant Enlargements at Every Store Wolfpack Club Discounts and Benefits hcation is a quiet buzzword that could grow louder. Everybody knows that central Atlanta's population has been rising: new housing, spreading rehabs, increased tax revenues. The news is good, but Thomas and others point out that the elderly are being displaced by tax increases and new construction, Mable Thomas is a cheerful, big-boned, 43-year-old Atlantan who has been slogging away at liberal local politics for more than 15 years.

Her hope now is to get elected City Council president. She still lives in the same house (in the English Avenue neighborhood) where she was born and raised. She has visited Senegal, England, South Africa, Switzerland, Belgium, Ghana, Italy, Uganda, Israel, the Caribbean and India where she retraced the steps of Gandhi. She talks fast and has a sense of humor. She's people-oriented and seems to love a good meeting.

She describes herself as "spiritual" and as a serious AME churchgoer. Thomas has focused for years on serving her constituents in old-fashioned Democratic ways. She has focused on parks, schools and the elderly, both as a paid consultant and as a politician first as a Jesse Jackson-for-president supporter in 1984, then as a state representative for eight years, and, for the past 3V4 years, as an at-large member of the City Council. "Nobody has done more for seniors than me," Thomas said one morning as she sat at a hotel breakfast table overlooking noisy Peachtree Street. She favors tax breaks for the poor, universal medical tests, more affordable housing, more cops on the streets.

She often votes with Mayor Bill Campbell's faction but says the mayor demands "100 percent-pus loyalty," and fche can't do that. Why does she call herself "Able" Mable Thomas? It goes back to 1984, she said. A political colleague coined it. Thomas felt the nickname set her apart, and eventually she made Great Selection at Guaranteed Low Prices and that troublesome populations, Able her legal middle name. She often signs her name, however, "Able" Mable Thomas with the Able first and in quotes.

Even her older sister and three older brothers call her "Able Mable," she said. She wears big rings and colorful clothes and doesn't quite conform to the image of the new urban pragmatist a political type that, in Atlanta, now stands for a mixture of fiscal integrity, personal honesty, better management, etc. She favors a cap on local campaign spending. "They've pushed the total cost of the mayor's race up to $3 million," she estimated, "and they've pushed the City Council president's race up to $500,000. Government is getting farther and farther away from the people." Thomas has been deeply involved in black causes but tries hard to transcend race.

"The fight is not black over white or white over black," she often says, "it's good over evil and right over wrong." She thinks of her career as a "political ministry." She has sought higher office before. In 1992, she ran unsuccessfully against U.S. Rep. John Lewis. Now, she hopes to beat three other council members for the presidency: Cathy Woolard, who has raised the most money and seems to have the strongest political organization; Julia Emmons, who just including drug dealers, are getting bumped out of some areas only to reappear suddenly in adjoining neighborhoods.

Another problem with gentrifi-cation: "There's lots of develop ment in Kirkwood and East Atlan ta," Thomas said, "but I don't hear anybody saying, 'We got a job out of At the very least she thinks developers should do more to fix up longtime residents' houses. "I can also organize and mobi SHOP TODAYI Product selection varies by location, please call before yog shop. lize," she said later of her political skills. "I don't just put a bill in. I go out into the community and tell them.

Nobody can out-community- outreach me.".