Lennon Torres was 13 when she received her first iPhone. She raced to download the apps all her friends used: Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, eager to experience social media alongside her peers.
But Torres, now 25, wasn’t the average 13-year-old. She was also a reality show contestant who later regularly guest starred on the show Dance Moms. As she built her social media profile, fans of the show began showing up. Torres, who is transgender and was out as an openly gay teen prior to her transition, received supportive and appreciative messages from queer youth, as well as death threats from strangers.
Then there were others who appeared to be adult men, who had a different agenda. Torres says they urged her to sign onto gay chat sites in order to “explore” her identity.
Though Torres’ parents embraced her queerness, she still felt disconnected from the broader LGBTQ+ community, which made the idea of joining a gay chat site compelling. All it took for Torres to join was falsely checking a box verifying her age as 18. What happened next forced Lennon to realize what it’s like to be sexually exploited as a young queer person.
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