Local
D.C. youth report being forced into prostitution
Civil rights panel holds hearing on LGBT sex trafficking
Ruby Corado (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Dany, who asked the Washington Blade not to use his last name, came to Virginia from Mexico in 2009 to escape the discrimination and abuse he said he suffered from his classmates and family members because he is gay. Those whom he said kidnapped him after he ran away from the school to which his parents had sent him as a child threatened to kill him because of his sexual orientation.
Dany moved to D.C. last year, but the woman with whom he was living soon told him the money he gave her to live in her home was not enough to pay for food and rent. He said that his landlord forced him to prostitute himself. He made the revelation during a District of Columbia State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights hearing on trafficking of LGBT youth in Northwest Washington on Tuesday. Dany told the Blade in a follow-up interview she threatened to report him as an undocumented immigrant if he refused.
“I had no guidance because I was very fearful,” he told the commissioners. “I had no direction on what to do.”
A report the State Department issued in June said up to 27 million people around the world are currently victims of labor and sex trafficking. Up to an estimated 300,000 people in the United States are currently involved with human trafficking.
The Polaris Project, an organization that combats human trafficking, estimates 100,000 children are currently in the sex trade in the U.S. The group’s National Human Trafficking Hotline has also received more than 80,000 calls from people who want to report cases as well as victims seeking support.
Those who testified at the hearing said homophobia and transphobia only exacerbate the problem of human trafficking among LGBT youth.
Andrea Powell, executive director of FAIR Girls, an organization that advocates on behalf of exploited girls and young women in the D.C. metropolitan area and elsewhere, highlighted the case of a 17-year-old transgender teenager from Maryland she said had recently been arrested for solicitation.
Powell said the teen has run away 62 times because of the abuse she said she suffered in the foster care system in which she has lived since birth. She said the teen’s boyfriend who is in his early 40s sometimes allows her to live with him in “exchange for sex.” Powell said he has also asked his girlfriend to have sex with others to help him pay the rent.
“The situation was pretty normal to her,” Powell said. “She would prefer not to have sex for money. She really preferred not to have sex with her boyfriend, but she did not want to be sent back to foster care and saw this as the best case scenario.”
A report the Williams Institute published last year indicates 40 percent of homeless youth are LGBT. Nearly 70 percent of service providers who responded to the survey cited family rejection as a major contributing factor to homelessness among this population.
Statistics from the National Coalition for the Homeless in 2009 indicate LGBT youth are more susceptible to victimization and mental health problems once they become homeless. The group said nearly 60 percent of homeless LGBT youth have been sexually assaulted, compared to roughly a third of their heterosexual counterparts. The National Coalition for the Homeless also found homeless LGBT youth are 7.4 times more likely to become a victim of sexual violence than those who are straight.
One person who requested anonymity told the committee a man who lived with his family in Honduras when he was a child began to abuse him because he is gay. He said his family kicked him out of the house after he told local authorities the man impregnated his 13-year-old sister.
The witness told the committee he began selling drugs to make money, but subsequently turned to prostitution. He said the person with whom he currently lives threatens to tell his family about what he is doing.
“This person is kind of a bad person to me,” he told the committee. “He has made me do stuff that I don’t want to do.”
The Polaris Project, the Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops are among the members of the D.C. Human Trafficking Task Force that formed in 2004 to increase the amount of trafficker prosecutions while identifying and expanding services to victims. It also receives grants from the U.S. Department of Justice and the Bureau of Justice Assistance to combat the issue.
Casa Ruby CEO Ruby Corado, who told commissioners during the hearing she had to work four jobs to pay the family with whom she lived after she moved to the U.S. from her native El Salvador in 1986, said homophobic and transphobic attitudes among some older D.C. police officers remain a barrier to LGBT trafficking victims. She said the situation has begun to improve through the Metropolitan Police Department’s Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit.
“There are open-minded law enforcement out there,” D.C. Police Det. Steven Schwalm told commissioners during his testimony. “If you’re being exploited, by all means give us a call. We’re here to help.”
Powell said another potential solution is to work with law enforcement officials to refer trafficking victims to services under so-called safe harbor laws as opposed to placing them under arrest for solicitation and other crimes.
“Incarceration and detention are not safety planning options,” she said. “They’re not our best case scenarios.”
As for Dany, he began volunteering at Casa Ruby after he said four men beat him up because he is gay last December as he left his apartment to see his psychologist. He has a new place to live and has applied for a U visa that allows crime victims to live in the U.S.
Dany, now 23, told the Blade he no longer prostitutes himself.
“If my story is going to help someone, I’m going to tell it,” he said.
The National Human Trafficking Resource Center’s hotline is (888) 373-7888 or 233733 via text message.
District of Columbia
D.C. Latinx Pride celebrates culture and heritage
Your guide to events throughout June
Organizers with the Latinx History Project have planned a host of events this Pride season with parties, poetry, drag and more.
The festivities begin with the DC Latinx Pride 2026 Kickoff at Crush Dance Bar (2007 14th Street, N.W.) on Friday, June 12 from 6-10 p.m. The party will include a coronation ceremony for the 2026 Royal Court: Ms. DC Latinx Pride Vida Rangel and Mx. DC Latinx Pride Steph Niaupari. RSVP at latinxhistoryproject.org. The event is free, though donations are accepted.
An outdoor event is planned for Sunday, June 14 from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. at Anacostia River Park (1500 Anacostia Dr., S.E.). Cultivating Queer Outdoor Joy is a “peaceful outdoor community event focused on grounding, connection, and queer joy in nature.” The event is free.
A panel discussion is planned for The Festival Center (1640 Columbia Rd., N.W., 2nd floor) on Monday, June 15 from 6-8 p.m. La Plática: The Future of 2 Spirits and Trans Natives will focus upon the “stories, leadership and vision of Two-Spirit, Indigiqueer and Trans Native people.” RSVP to the free event at latinxhistoryproject.org.
A sex-positive poetry workshop, “Hoetry: Writing Erotic Poetry,” is planned for Wednesday, June 17 from 6-8 p.m. at The Festival Center (1640 Columbia Road, N.W.). The event is free.
The workshop So You Wanna Do Drag? is planned for Thursday, June 18 from 5:30-8 p.m. at The Festival Center (1640 Columbia Road, N.W.). Featured guests Ricky Rose and Mari Con Carne will hold a style showcase to discuss the basics of developing a drag persona. RSVP to the free event at latinxhistoryproject.org.
The Latinx History Project is collaborating with Rumba Queer DC to produce an official Latinx Pride Party: Sin Vergüenza. The event is at the multi-level venue, Transmission (1353 H Street, N.E.) on Thursday, June 18 from 7 p.m.-1 a.m. There are dance lessons, vendors and three different music experiences in the sprawling venue. There will also be a drag showcase from 10-11 p.m. The event is 21+ and tickets are available at shotgun.live/en/events/sin-verguenza. Tickets are $15 for entry into the party. Tickets to participate in the dance lesson are $29.98. Participants may choose between a bachata lesson or a salsa lesson from 7-8 p.m.
La Fiesta: Official DC Latinx Pride Party is planned for Friday, June 19 from 10 p.m. – 2 a.m. at Bunker (2001 14th Street, N.W.). Serena Morena from “Drag Race México” and “Drag Race UK vs The World” is slated to headline the 21+ event. Early tickets are available for $15 (plus $0.38 service fee) until June 16. The door cover charge without early tickets is $20. Attendees can also purchase a meet and greet experience with Serena Morena for $30. Tickets are available at latinxhistoryproject.org.
The Latinx History Project plans to march in the Capital Pride Parade on Saturday, June 20 and to have a table at the Capital Pride Festival on Sunday, June 21. Visit latinxhistoryproject.org to register to march alongside LGP in the parade or to staff the table at the festival.
The DC Latinx Pride 2026 Closing Event is scheduled for Friday, June 26 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the Mexican Cultural Institute (2829 16th Street, N.W.). The free event is a panel discussion “centering the experiences of immigrants who have lived in Latin America and now call the United States home.”
Visit latinxhistoryproject.org for more information.
District of Columbia
JR.’s hosts meet & greet for mayoral candidate Janeese Lewis George
Event organized by Capital Stonewall Democrats, Queers for Janeese
D.C. mayoral candidate Janeese Lewis George spoke to a crowd of LGBTQ supporters on June 1 at a meet & greet event held at JR.’s on 17th Street in the Dupont Circle neighborhood.
The event, organized by Capital Stonewall Democrats, which has endorsed Lewis George for mayor, with support from a group called Queers for Janeese, was followed by a “get out the vote” canvassing endeavor in which several of those attending the meet & greet visited the homes of nearby residents known to be Lewis George supporters.
The purpose of the canvassing was to remind Lewis George supporters to return their mail-in ballots or go to the polls on June 16 to elect Lewis George as the city’s next mayor, according to Matthew Kavanagh, one of the leaders of Queers for Janeese who attended the meet & greet event at JR.’s.
Local political observers consider Lewis George, a Ward 4 D.C. Council member, and former At-Large D.C. Council member Kenyan McDuffie, to be the two leading candidates in this year’s race for mayor. The two are among seven mayoral candidates competing in the city’s June 16 Democratic primary.
Lewis George told those attending the meet & greet, which was held on the JR.’s outdoor patio, that she has a long record of advocating for and initiating city polices and laws in support of the LGBTQ community. She said large corporate donors were backing her opponents and urged her LGBTQ supporters to help raise funds for her in the remaining days of the campaign.
Among those attending the meet & greet was gay longtime Dupont Circle civic activist Randy Downs who last November opened a nearby eatery called Protest Pizza. “I am queer and I am a Janeese supporter,” Downs told the Blade.
Stevie McCarty, president of Capital Stonewall Democrats, who also spoke at the meet & greet event, said his group would organize events in support of Lewis George in the remaining days of the campaign. Among them, he said, was an LGBTQ bar crawl in which supporters of Lewis George, including the candidate herself, would visit LGBTQ bars to promote her candidacy.
Virginians for Marriage Equality on Monday launched a campaign in support of repealing Virginia’s constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman.
Equality Virginia Executive Director Narissa Rahaman, former state Sen. Adam Ebbin, former state Del. Mark Sickles, and American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia Executive Director Mary Bauer are among those who spoke at the launch that took place in Richmond. State Del. Kirk McPike (D-Alexandria), who co-chairs the campaign, also participated.
“This amendment is about making clear that the government has no business deciding which marriages or which families are worthy of recognition,” said Bauer. “The ACLU of Virginia has been fighting for Virginians’ right to marry who they love since the landmark case, Loving v. Virginia, which struck down the ban on interracial marriage. Now we are proud to carry that legacy forward by standing with our coalition partners in the fight to pass this amendment and finally enshrine the right to marriage equality in the commonwealth’s constitution.”
Voters in 2006 approved the Marshall-Newman Amendment.
Same-sex couples have been able to legally marry in Virginia since 2014. Former Gov. Glenn Youngkin, who is a Republican, in 2024 signed a bill that codified marriage equality in state law.
Two successive legislatures must approve a proposed constitutional amendment before it can go to the ballot.
Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger in February signed a bill that finalized the referendum’s language.
The referendum will take place on Nov. 3.
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