| Rachel Lloyd | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1975 Stalbridge, Dorset, England |
| Occupation | Executive Director |
| Known for | Founder of Girls Educational and Mentoring Services (GEMS); Anti-human trafficking activist |
Rachel Lloyd (born 1975) is an anti-human trafficking advocate and founder and Executive Director of the New York-based Girls Educational and Mentoring Services (GEMS).
Lloyd immigrated to the United States in 1997, to work with incarcerated adult women, and later began working to end domestic human sex trafficking, in particular, the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) and young women taking place within the United States.[1][2] She began working with adult women who were coming out of prostitution, as well as women incarcerated at Rikers Island and county correctional facilities. She also reached out to women working the streets on Hunts Point in the Bronx.[3] Since her early days in New York, Lloyd has become a leading advocate, working on behalf of girls and young women victimized by commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking.
Lloyd was named one of the "50 Women Who Change the World" by Ms. Magazine, one of the "100 Women Who Shape New York" by the New York Daily News (2004),[4] "New Yorker of the Week" by New York One (May 12, 2010),[3] and a "Notable New Yorker" by WCBS-TV (September 4, 2006).[5] She has also spoken before local, state, and federal legislative bodies, as well as the United Nations (October 22, 2009)[6][7] and international audiences in the Philippines and Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
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Raised in Stalbridge by her single mother, young Rachel Lloyd attended private school on a scholarship to Portsmouth High School for Girls, despite her family’s financial struggles.[8] During her time at private school she was faced with strong racial prejudices, battling both the school administration and her peers for the kind of treatment that she received.[9]
Lloyd's mother drank heavily, and her stepfather became abusive.[10] She left school at the age of 13 to support herself, by means which included shoplifting and nude modeling. She began nude modeling at 14 years and gradually progressed to stripping and prostitution by the time she had turned 18.[1][8][11] She was recruited by a pimp and began working as a prostitute on the streets.[2][12][13] In 1994, after two years working as a prostitute, she left the sex industry.
In 2003, Lloyd was interviewed in Marie Claire magazine. "I was 17 when I turned my first trick, compared with the 12-year-olds I meet today."[11] Abused at three and raped at 13, Rachel Lloyd became a prostitute, surviving rape on the streets, murder plots by her pimp, and several suicide attempts.[11][12][10] When she was 17 years old, she moved to Germany, in an effort to change her life, only to end up back on the streets. She was violently beaten by her pimp before her 18th birthday.[5] Her body still bears the scars of traumatic encounters with her pimps and boyfriends, including a deep scar from a knife wound on her right hand, which required seventeen stitches.[8][10]
In 1994, Rachel was able to escape her situation. She started on the road to recovery through the support of a military family and a church on a US Air Force base in Germany.[1][9] In 1997, she immigrated to the United States to begin working with adult women in the commercial sex industry. Her work encompassed advocating for working women on the streets and in the local correctional facilities. During this time, Lloyd observed the overwhelming need for community services for young women who were either at risk of being sexually exploited or were currently being trafficked. She recognized the severe emotional and practical needs of women and young girls who were being ignored by traditional government-based social service agencies.[14]
After arriving in New York, Lloyd returned to school and began studying in preparation to take her General Educational Development (or GED) test. Passing successfully certified that her academic skills and abilities were equivalent to receiving an American education at the high school level. With this certification, she continued on to college, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Marymount Manhattan College and her Masters in Applied Urban Anthropology from the City College of New York.[10]
Despite some painful memories, Lloyd states that she does not regret her life. "Obviously there have been experiences I would rather not have had and pain I wish I hadn't felt, but every experience, every tear, every hardship has equipped me for the work I do now," she says. "I get such deep satisfaction from knowing I'm fulfilling my purpose, that my life is counting for something; it puts all the past hurts into perspective. My pain has become my passion and I find true joy in my work, in my life, and in seeing 'my girls' fulfill their purpose too."[10]
In December 2000,[15][13][9] Lloyd started a nonprofit organization to support girls and young women victimized by the commercial sex industry in the United States.[10] GEMS: Girls Educational and Mentoring Services was birthed from Lloyd's own experiences of sexual exploitation as a teenager, in addition to her encounters with the ineffective support services of the political and social systems which had been designed to protect the many victims of violence and abuse.
Based in Harlem, New York City, GEMS started off as a kitchen table project in 1998. The assets of this newly formed organization included a borrowed computer and 30 dollars.[9][10] Today, the organization has grown to become one of the largest providers of services to young women and girls, ages 12–21, who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking. The organization serves about 275 girls per year, while providing direct services for over 1,000 girls and young women a year.[14]
In cities across the United States, when young girls under the age of 18 are arrested for prostitution or other illegal activities of a sexual nature, they are often charged and sentenced to probation or time in jail. They enter the criminal justice system with the legal presumption that they are juvenile delinquents. While the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, defines human sex trafficking as a commercial sex act induced by force, fraud or coercion, or involving a minor, many states continue to treat victims of child sexual exploitation as criminals. State laws have been enacted that actually support prosecuting sexually exploited youth, rather than offering them protection and assistance as victims of a horrible crime. When Lloyd began working with victims, she discovered that New York, as well as many other states, relied on legislation contradicting the federal statute.
Although comprehensive research to document the number of children engaged in prostitution in the United States is lacking,[16] the Department of Justice, estimates about 293,000 American youth are currently "at risk" of becoming victims of commercial sexual exploitation.[17] Sgt. Byron Fassett of the Dallas Police Child Exploitation Squad,[18] points out an obvious irony of this situation. "If a 45-year-old man had sex with a 14-year-old girl and no money changed hands, she was likely to get counseling and he was likely to get jail time for statutory rape. If the same man left $80 on the table after having sex with her, she would probably be locked up for prostitution and he would probably go home with a fine as a john."[19]
Prosecuting children does not help eradicate child abuse. Lloyd works to change these misconceptions that view children as criminals, speaking out against these laws and sentences in the United States. She played a key role in lobbying New York legislators to pass the 2008 Safe Harbor for Exploited Youth Act. The bill recognizing these children as victims, rather than criminals, and provides them with necessary social services. "It benefits girls who are not legally old enough to consent to sex, who’d be protected under statutory rape laws if money hadn't changed hands," she says.[20]
In February 2010, Lloyd presented testimony before the United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law hearing entitled "In Our Own Backyard: Child Prostitution and Sex Trafficking in the United States". In his opening statements, Senator Dick Durbin, chairman of the subcommittee, recognized Lloyd's leadership in addressing the sexual exploitation of children and advocating for change in the New York State criminal justice system. In referring to the Safe Harbor for Exploited Youth Act, in which Lloyd played an important role, Durbin stated that "Congress should build on New York's fine work and make clear that children who are subjected to sex trafficking should not be treated like criminals."[14]
In addition to providing direct services and support, the Girls Educational and Mentoring Services works to increase awareness of the commercial sexual exploitation of children. Lloyd, her staff, and the young women served by GEMS advocate at the local, state, and national level to promote policies that support young women who have been commercially sexually exploited and domestically trafficked.
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Very Young Girls (2007 Swinging T Productions) is documentary film that presents the work of the Girls Educational and Mentoring Services. Directed by David Schisgall, the film is an exposé of human trafficking that follows 13- and 14-year-old American girls as they are coerced and exploited on New York’s streets by pimps; while being treated as adult criminals by police.[21][22]
The film was an official selection in the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival, the 2008 Edinburgh Film Festival, the 2008 Independent Film Boston, the 2008 True/False Film Festival, the 2008 Miami International Film Festival, the 2008 Jerusalem Film Festival, the 2008 Jackson Hole Film Festival, and the 2008 Indie Spirit Film Festival. The film has been broadcast and distributed by Showtime Networks.[23]
Lloyd began her career as a leader among youth survivors of commercialized sexual exploitation. In March 1998, she helped draft a declaration and agenda for action at the first International Summit of Sexually Exploited Youth, presented by the International Centre to Combat Exploitation of Children, held in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. She presented the declaration at the United Nations and saw it ratified by 120 countries.[6][7]
Lloyd co-founded the New York City Task Force Against the Sexual Exploitation of Children; she organized and hosted both the first United States Summit of Sexually Exploited Youth (2003) and the first congressional briefing on sexual exploitation (2004).
In 2008, as the Executive Director of GEMS, Lloyd was a leading advocate, playing a key role in the successful passage of New York State's groundbreaking Safe Harbor for Exploited Children Act, making New York the first state in the nation to protect, rather than prosecute sexually exploited children. She is also a founding member of the United States Campaign to Stop the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children.
In 2010, Lloyd was named an Ashoka Fellow and a Prime Mover Fellow. She has been honored with the Reebok International Human Rights Award (2006),[10] and the Social Entrepreneurship Award from the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research (2008).
Lloyd has been honored with the Community Service Award from the New York State Association of Black and Puerto Rican Legislators, the Frederick Douglass Award from the North Star Fund, the Susan B. Anthony Award from the National Organization for Women, the Community Service Award from Soroptimist International NY, and the Social Entrepreneurship Award from the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research.