Understanding Sexual Orientation

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LGBTQ youth are at least twice as likely to be trafficked as their heterosexual peers.

Homelessness disproportionately affects LGBTQ youth, which heightens risk of trafficking.

Prevention requires supportive families, inclusive policies, and targeted resources.

About 10 percent of youth in the United States identify as LGBTQ . The Polaris Project has found that people of color and those who identify as part of the LGBTQ  community are more likely to be trafficked than any other group. Research shows that nearly 50 percent of youth engaged in commercial sex identify as LGBTQ , and LGBTQ youth are at least twice as likely to be sex trafficked as non-LGBTQ youth (French Nafekh et al., 2023; Hogan & Rose-Sepowitz, 2023; Allan, Winters, & Jeglic, 2023).

Take the example of José Alfaro, who is a human trafficking survivor and activist. When José Alfaro was just 16, his father gave him an impossible choice: abandon his home or abandon his LGBTQ identity. José grew up in a conservative town in Texas, where he was taught that gay people were not welcome. When his father found out he was gay, he physically assaulted him and then asked him to leave the home. Without a loving home or family support, he formed a relationship online with a 36-year-old man who made him feel accepted and special. His search for belonging led him into the arms of a trafficker who trafficked him for sex through a massage business. Even after he had escaped, he lived with depression and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and resorted to drugs and alcohol to cope. This path from family rejection to violent........

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