There is money to be made in exploiting children.
According to the San Diego District Attorney’s Office, the human trafficking of young people generates hundreds of millions of dollars for the reptiles who would benefit from young misery.
Perhaps not lost but quite possibly overlooked among the victims are LGBTQ+ youth.
A significant portion of the young homeless population, about 4 in 10, identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and/or queer, according to the Trevor Project, a national non-profit organization committed to mental health and suicide prevention in the LGBTQ+ youth community.
That roughly 40 percent of homeless youth are members of that demographic is not surprising. It’s not difficult to imagine that youth “coming out” at home as anything other than heteronormative would be made to feel less than welcome at home, given our society’s glacial evolution on sexuality and gender identity.
In fact, it feels as though the climate we’re in now is a regressive one when it comes to diversity and acceptance.
The young homeless population of all shapes, colors and bearing are at-risk and vulnerable but it appears that the LGBTQ+ faction are particularly prone to grim developments.
San Diego Youth Alliance reports that there has been an uptick the number of trafficked LGBTQ+ minors, and in 2023 a reported 41 percent of LGBTQ+ youth surveyed indicated they considered suicide.
While not all human trafficking revolves around the sex trade—victims are often forced into working in grueling conditions in the agricultural, construction or industrial trades for little or no pay—the sexually exploitative component is always there.
Law enforcement agencies, and advocates spend millions working to bring it to an end.
But while it appears there are champions on one end, on the other end and at the same time there are legislators who are working overtime to continue ostracizing LGBTQ+ youth from our communities and forcing them into shadows by drafting laws that prevent them from accessing the basic human and medical rights that everyone else enjoys. Collectively, we need to decide if all of this country’s youth are valued. If they do then we need to start electing leaders and passing laws that demonstrate that belief.
