A Sad Commentary On Us

I have been depressed lately, I see all this hate, bigotry, and discrimination increasing around the country and I don’t like the way our country is heading. People who want to nuke North Korea, people who spray paint the home of an interracial couple, people who vandalize a Hindu temple, and people who throw out their child because they are LGBT and I don’t know what to do.

Trans, Teen and Homeless: America's Most Vulnerable PopulationAn estimated 70,000 transgender youth lack secure housing – this is what life on the streets is like for six of themRolling Stone
By Laura Rena Murray
September 26, 2017

One summer evening, in New York's West Village, Justice and Sophie peer into passing cars, searching out men who might offer a bed for the night and some cash for sex. A black Lexus stops at the curb, and Sophie leans into the window. She wears her curly hair pulled back at the nape of her neck, and slopes her shoulders in the hope of making her lanky frame appear more petite. Two pearl bracelets slide down her right forearm, and her chipped mauve nail polish matches the leggings under her short black halter dress. The driver, a familiar client, is an older man wearing a baseball hat. He asks to see Sophie's penis for 10 bucks. She turns him down, hoping he'll offer more. Justice tells Sophie the same man was looking for her the previous night. He circles the block three more times but they ignore him. "He's playing with me too much," Sophie says.

Sometimes life at home is unbearable, sometimes they are thrown out but they all end up in the same place, the streets.

Here in Connecticut there have been a few laws passed to curb human trafficking. One of them require motel clerks to take training to spot human trafficking which has had a positive result in the arrest of a pimp who was pimping out a young girl.

The law PA17-32 states in part mandates,

(A) Develop a list of key indicators that a person is a victim of trafficking;
(B) Develop a standardized curriculum and conduct training for doctors, nurses, pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, emergency medical services personnel, teachers, school counselors, school administrators and personnel from the Department of Children and Families and the Department of Public Health to identify victims of human trafficking, using the list of key indicators developed under subparagraph (A) of this subdivision, and assist such victims;
(C) Develop and conduct training for personnel from the Departments of Children and Families and Public Health on methods for identifying children in foster care who may be at risk of becoming victims of trafficking;
(D) Develop a plan for mental health, support and substance abuse programs for individuals identified as victims of trafficking and those arrested for prostitution in violation of section 53a-82. The plan shall provide for (i) the diversion of victims of trafficking and prostitution offenders into community-based treatment and support services, including, but not limited to, substance abuse recovery, housing, healthcare, job training, treatment and mental health support, and (ii) after the successful completion of the program, the dismissal of any related criminal charges against the accused.

Many of the children in danger are trans,

There are now more than 350,000 transgender people under the age of 25 in the United States, the majority in the largest cities of New York, California, Florida and Texas – and an estimated 20 percent of them lack secure housing, though many service providers believe that figure is low. Craig Hughes of the Coalition for Homeless Youth notes that the federal definition of homelessness does not include those who trade sex for shelter; instead, they are considered "unstably" housed. "There are thousands who go uncounted," Hughes says. "They are disconnected from services, sleep on multiple couches a month and spend some nights trading sex for shelter."

For the rest of my life I will always remember a meeting that I went to by the Judicial Support Services. It was about a runaway teen trans girl at the Bridgeport bus station who was picked-up by a pimp and was forced on heron and then put out on the street.

She was busted for prostitution and turned in the pimp, the pimp put out a contract and the girl was shot on the court steps. She survived and the Judicial Support Services were looking for someplace to take her in but no shelter wanted her… a trans girl, an addict, and a contract on her head. The witness protection service didn’t want her, she was a small fish and they only want a big fish.

There are thousand like her around the country.