The Roberts family’s story was fiction, but the experiences of Brenna and Sam were not unique.
Transgender youth in America are far more likely than their peers to end up homeless, drug addicted, sex trafficked and to be victims of homicide and suicide. This is significantly aggravated by the fact that they are often rejected by the people they need the most—their families, churches and friends. It was only until late in the Obama administration that any federal protections existed for transgender people against discrimination in housing, health care and other services. Those new protections have been almost entirely rolled back by the Trump administration in the last two years.
In other words, if you are transgender, you can be denied access to bathrooms. You can be fired from your job. You can be denied housing, kicked out the military or be ejected from a homeless shelter, all based on who you are.
Brenna’s experience as described in this novel is also not all that unusual. Traffickers and pimps often prey on kids who are troubled, already abused, isolated or otherwise don’t have strong support systems. They manipulate and abuse young women and children, and too often law enforcement treats the victims as criminals themselves, locking them up or worse.
The scale of the problem is staggering. Estimates vary wildly depending on which organization and what research you look at, but it’s clear that anywhere from 35,000 to hundreds of thousands of children and teens are trafficked in the United States every year.
To learn more, including how you can help, here are three organizations which provide services, information and advocacy in these areas.
My Life, My Choice
https://fightingexploitation.org
Based in Boston, Massachusetts, My Life, My Choice provides community, stability and hope to exploited children. The average age their clients entered the sex trade is 14 years old. They provide survivor empowerment, prevention, training and advocacy.
The Polaris Project
https://polarisproject.org
Polaris works with a wide variety of organizations to help stop human trafficking.
The Transgender Youth Equality Foundation
http://www.transyouthequality.org
Transgender Youth Equality Foundation provides education, advocacy and support for transgender children, youth and their families.