The annual State Department report which documents the severity of human trafficking around the world will not include any mention of LGBTQ victims even though large percentages of human trafficking victims are queer, trans and non-binary. The erasure of LGBTQ people continues. From Boston’s local PBS affiliate GBH:
Each year the State Department publishes what it calls the Trafficking in Persons Report — also known as TIP — to gauge how individual countries deal with sex and labor trafficking within their borders.
Each year, including during President Donald Trump’s first term, LGBTQ victims have been included in the annual survey.
Not this year, says Jose Alfaro, a survivor of sex trafficking and a member of the U.S. Advisory Council on Human Trafficking. In speaking with GBH Alfaro emphasized that he was not speaking on behalf of the Council.
Alfaro, who lives in the Boston area, said he received a telephone call this week from the State Department to inform him that the section on human trafficking detailing the exploitation of gay men and women, trans, queer and non-binary victims will not be included in the full report that will be made public later this year.
When Alfaro asked why there would be no mention of LGBTQ people – “Fear of backlash? Fear of being fired? Fear of being targeted by the current administration?” – the answer he received was, “Yes to all of the above.”
Folks, I just broke this story for @gbhnews State Department erases LGBTQ victims from human trafficking report www.wgbh.org/news/news-pr… [image or embed]
— Phillip Wd Martin (@phillipgbhnews.bsky.social) February 7, 2025 at 2:21 PM
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