Brilliant sister survivor Holly Austin Smith has a written an important post about the desperate need for services for trafficked boys. She discusses the issue with amazing survivor Tina Frudt, a pioneer who founded Courtney’s House, one of the very few providing services to both trafficked boys and girls. Here’s an excerpt:
As celebrations for Gay Pride Month come to a close, I’d like to take a moment to point out a troubling gap in services for gay and transgender youth who have been commercially sexually exploited.
In March of this year, Project Q Atlanta reported that Atlanta drag queen personality Pasha Nicole received a 14-year prison sentence for “forcing a transgender teenager into prostitution,” among other offenses related to trafficking.
Nicole, known legally as Christopher Thomas Lynch, was charged alongside her 35-year-old roommate and gay bar go-go dancer, Steven Donald Lemery. WSBTV reported the following pending charges against Lemery: five counts of aggravated child molestation, two counts of human trafficking, child molestation, enticing a child for indecent purposes, and pandering by compulsion.
What’s most troubling in this story is the trauma inflicted on the victims.
The Georgia Voice reported that Lemery used social networking sites to lure teen boys to his house, and then he would not allow them to leave. Furthermore, it is alleged that Lemery did not feed the victims and that he kept them locked in a closet.
Related articles
- Kasich signs trafficking bill (toledoblade.com)
- Hawaii 6th State to Enact Vacating Conviction Law for Trafficking Victims (hawaiireporter.com)
- Let’s Empower Teachers to Fight Sex Trafficking (survivorsconnect.wordpress.com)
- Survivors Must Lead the Anti-Trafficking Movement (secretlifeofamanhattancallgirl.wordpress.com)
- For victims of human trafficking, a ‘Life of Freedom’ (miamiherald.com)
- Beautiful new survivor-led center opens in Miami (survivorsconnect.wordpress.com)
- Historic Initiative to Combat Human Trafficking (sacbee.com)
- No shock about foster kids and sex traffickers (miamiherald.com)
- NY taxi drivers get sex trafficking lesson (thecnnfreedomproject.blogs.cnn.com)
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