Dominion’s Opinions: Gay Taken – A story about human trafficking

My columns are normally a lightweight recounting of the shady, humorous, and deliciously cruel intersection of Fat, Black, Gay, Kinky, and Male. Today, we have something more serious to discuss.

Last week I was in Florida for gaycation, and I loaded up my apps as one is wont to do. On Day Four, I got a message saying, “Interested in something Taboo and Discreet?” The profile was blank, so I paid it.

Two days later, I got the same message. I was bored, so I responded, “Definitely!” Since I also write about leather/kink/fetish topics, people often message me about these things, their idea of taboo rarely straying beyond watersports, or their problematic Mandingo fantasies, but I was totally unprepared for what happened next.

The messenger asked me to contact him on Telegram and said:

“Yo, so I know someone who isn’t in this country legally. Latin boy. Scared about being deported. Legit powerless. This stuff interest you? Taboo and discreet.”

Several things went through my mind. Was someone fucking with me? The paranoid in me was imagining the FBI on the other end just waiting to entrap someone, or Chris Hansen ready to spring a “To Catch a Predator”-style trap.

A nagging voice drowned out the others, though: what if this is real and there is a kid in trouble? After all, this seemed like a lot to go through for a gag or to set someone up. Shakily, I replied, “Sure, tell me more.”

“He’s 19. Only had him for a couple of days. Straight boy, separated and isolated from family. Very demoralized. When someone loses power like that they basically stop being human. You’d be able to do anything to him…”

Was this guy pulling my leg? Sex traffickers don’t conduct business through gay hookup apps, I thought to myself. Then, he sent me a picture of the guy. The scene looked about as real as that time your favorite porn star barista stunt kween posted that picture of himself in the hospital after getting caught being racist on Twitter.

There was a cute, if obviously young (how young?) guy sitting naked on the floor. His hand was around one end of a leash being held off-camera by the camera person. It looked like pictures I’d been sent hundreds of times from boys and subs eager to play with a Dom Top Daddy Bear.

Or was it a young undocumented boy snatched up and offered as a sex doll to a guy in town on vacation, a gay version of Taken? Was he supposed to look totally beaten up and demoralized with obvious bruises? Or was he supposed to look like a cute young twink you could do anything to? Was this just a domestic version of what happens to Thai boys and girls from small villages who head to Bangkok and Phuket seeking better opportunities and get caught up? Or was this a set up to show up and get robbed? We have all seen and heard stories of guys who show up for a hookup and get assaulted or worse.

In the end, it came down to four things: One, I know people who have been forced into sex work. If that was happening to this kid, it was my responsibility to help him -– END OF STORY. Two, if that were my young cousin/brother/sister/friend, I’d want some kind stranger to try to help. Three, since “Ya’ Brista” (that’s me) don’t pay for sex, it was always going to be a no.

Although we hadn’t discussed payment, this didn’t seem like a freebie kind of deal. And lastly, I ain’t no chicken hawk. I like my men old enough to rent a car without their mom’s co-signature, and I am certainly not down for anything illegal. I alerted the authorities.

Unfortunately, in the several minutes that it took me to decide on this course of action, the poster must have gotten scared, because when I went to respond to him, his posts were gone and I couldn’t find his profile, which made me think this was DEFINITELY real and the person in the picture might REALLY be in trouble.

Luckily, I had screenshots, which I provided to the hook up app. Then, I contacted The National Human Trafficking Hotline (1-888-373-7888).

You’ll be shocked to know that a government-funded organization was largely ineffective and unhelpful. I texted them the details I had and got an auto-response. When someone did respond, I rehashed the details, but they told me they weren’t set up to receive pictures or screenshots.

Instead, they asked if I had any names, addresses, or phone numbers of the boy or the person who sent the message, but other than the screen name on the apps, we hadn’t gotten that far. By the time the conversation ended, they hadn’t even asked for my contact details or provided a case number or anything.

My “Captain Save-A-Hoe” gene had been activated, and it was just very frustrating that I could not do more to help this kid out. Even if I had provided all that information, the text conversation made it abundantly clear it was unlikely someone would have swooped in and saved him. And since he was undocumented, he might even have just exchanged one hell for another.

Before this incident, I was aware that underage people were on the apps and I’d given more than a couple the boot, but I hadn’t been aware of the extent of trafficking through hook up apps. Even a casual Google search shows how rampant the problem is. Thousands of young people are exploited every year, and if you try to do the right thing, you are confronted with a bureaucracy that isn’t super helpful.

I am telling this story so that when you are confronted with a similar situation, you’ll try to help a fellow human being out and not just look the other way. I will say that the Hotline’s website does have a clearinghouse of local resources that you can use. I am contacting the ones in South Florida and providing them the information I have. Ultimately, I think I did the right thing, but I still feel like I failed this kid because nothing really happened.