re: 'Sound of Freedom' scores 92% Rotten Tomatoes rating ahead of July 4 premiere

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Homophobia and gender-based discrimination make LGBTQ+ people, especially youth, vulnerable to various forms of violence and exploitation, including human trafficking. Human trafficking is the act of compelling someone to engage in work or commercial sex, for little or no pay, through force, fraud, or coercion. It is a systemic injustice that disproportionately affects marginalized people, groups, and communities who face discrimination.

Prejudice, stigma, and homophobia often lead LGBTQ+ youth to experience housing instability or homelessness. This is especially true if their family, friends, and communities do not accept their gender identity or sexuality. Research shows that LGBTQ+ youth are 13 times more likely to experience homelessness than their straight peers and that they are overrepresented among homeless youth populations, accounting for up to 40% in North America. This is a staggeringly high statistic, given that only roughly 5% of the general youth population identify as LGBTQ+.

Discrimination by shelters, social service providers, law enforcement, and other community agencies and leaders exacerbates vulnerability for LGBTQ+ youth. All this, coupled with young age, can lead to opportunities for exploitation such as human trafficking. Researchers found that LGBTQ+ youth are significantly more likely to experience human trafficking than their straight counterparts.

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Although LGBTQ individuals only account for three to five percent of the population, they account for up to 40 percent of the runaway and homeless youth population. It is estimated that 26 percent of LGBTQ adolescents are rejected by their families and put out of their homes for no other reason than being open about who they are. Once on the streets, they face a significant chance of becoming victims of human trafficking. More people are enslaved today than at any point in human history, and LGBTQ youth are being trapped in sexual slavery at alarming levels. Once trafficked, these children face beatings, mutilations, brandings, rapes, and a host of other crimes that no child should ever live through.

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While human trafficking can affect anyone, the industry largely preys on those who make up the most vulnerable, alienated communities in society. Youth who identify as LGBTQ are a part of this extremely vulnerable and highly scrutinized community. These individuals experience high rates of marginalization, poverty, and hate crimes, all of which are precursors to sexual violence. That is, children who identify as LGBTQ are typically more likely to be victims of human trafficking, domestic, and sexual violence than their heterosexual peers.

A study by the Polaris Project reveals that homeless LGBTQ youth are 7.4x more likely to experience acts of sexual violence than heterosexual individuals. Accordingly, Loyola researchers found that roughly 56% of transgender youth are involved in the sex trade. As a whole, these studies confirm that the population of LGBTQ individuals is disproportionately affected by violence and discrimination.

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