Comments by "Jose Alfaro" (@singingme415) on "GBH News" channel.

  1. I’m alive and well and I have so much to be thankful for in my life. I have never not once blamed anyone for what I’ve gone through and have done work to move forward with my life. What people don’t understand is that these stories are edited and it isn’t the full story it’s pieces that are cut and pasted. I don’t need anyones validation, I know what I experienced and testified in trial with 3 other male survivors. My tears in this video were coming from a place of empathy for the younger me it wasn’t to make people feel sorry for me. My goal is to help others before this happens to them or to help them to stop blaming themselves for what happened to them and to start understanding, letting go and moving forward. I wish everyone healing and love in life.❤️
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  2. What money? Nothing that was said was a lie. There was a federal trial with proof!🙄
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  3. It is actually the federal definition of trafficking. In these types of situations most victims don’t say no because they can’t. They are threatened. I was threatened that if I told anyone then I would get into trouble. I was 16.
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  4. I’m stunning ❤️✌🏽
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  5. What does HIV have anything to do with this?
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  6. I’m doing well. I now work with several different agencies and organizations globally to help identify and support other minors from marginalized communities.
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  7.  @vernonfrance2974  I was locked in a room with them. Also please keep in mind I was not the only teenage boy, there were 4 who testified and at least 8 total that we knew of who were trafficked by Gandy. The way he was caught was by taking a 15 yr old boy to London to traffic him. Is that enough for you to no longer victim blame?
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  8. Ya bruh
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  9. You were raped at 16. A grown man took advantage of you. I’m sorry that you blame yourself. I didn’t want what happened to me. I never thought in a million years that my father would physically assault me and throw me out. I didn’t know where to go or who to turn to. The “if this were females” narrative is perpetuated stigma that males should be strong and can defend themselves which is a bunch of patriarchal bull. See a therapist and do some healing because this is a toxic mentality.
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  10. Isn’t it interesting how it’s not just girls? White girls?
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  11. My father and I have began rebuilding our relationship.
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  12. It is a major systemic issue. I’m not the only one who has gone through this. Kids are left with no where to turn and end up in the hands of predators.
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  13. You don’t have to buy the story. 4 other males were abused and testified before a jury. It’s wild how people in our community can quickly assume that they know what it was like just because they are gay. You don’t know the full story and you didn’t experience what I went through. Shame on you.
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  14. "the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purposes of a commercial sex act, in which the person induced to perform such an act has not attained 18 years of age" (22 USC § 7102 (9-10)).
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  15. I completely understand now but to be honest at the time I was fearful of discrimination after being tormented for being effeminate my entire life. Child protective services were called and as kids we were told to lie. Law enforcement were called for domestic violence. Where was I supposed to go when everyone in my life said something was wrong with me? This is a systemic issue and there is a major need for housing and resources for homeless youth. The point I was trying to make by sharing my experience was to point out how the system is failing our youth and this does happen to boys. Everyone is outraged by the Epstein and R. Kelly case but suddenly a gay male shares a very similar if not worse experience and suddenly it’s not believable?
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  16. You don’t have to. That’s why there was a trial in front of a jury and 3 other male survivors testified that the same thing happened to them when they were 15,16 and 17. I guess they lied also?
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  17. I’m so disgusted and sickened by the amount of victim blaming and shaming. I’m a human being and at 16 I didn’t know where to go or who to turn to when I had been hated and feared for my life because of religion and peoples hatred towards gays. I didn’t know that what we were going to do was have sex with clients and I was tricked and locked in a room and then threatened that I would go to prison.
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  18. Homeless at 16 isn’t a struggle? Being locked in a room and raped by adult men at 16 isn’t trafficking? Please tell me what human trafficking is?
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  19. Fictionalized tragedy? Gand was sentenced to 30 years in prison for trafficking 5 maybe more underage boys. I wasn’t a sex worker, I was tricked into it and then couldn’t get out because of threats.
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  20. And then what?
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  21.  @vernonfrance2974 no one said that’s the case but you came on victim blamed and invalidated my experience.
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  22.  @vernonfrance2974  I am Jose. You clearly don’t understand what human trafficking is. I was threatened by Gandy. You don’t know our stories and what we went through. In this case alone there were several boys who went through the same thing. Mind you Gandy was much more than just a trafficker. There are parts to him that were much more sinister!
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  23. I didn’t block you. I deleted my reply because I go back and forth about responding to people. I get a ton of horrible comments about my sexuality and gender and it’s upsetting. I’m trying to share helpful information about what is happening to our youth and instead of people just hearing my story they choose to try and knock me down as if they know the life I lived. When I do these interviews I am 100% transparent with what happened and how it happened but it all goes through an editing process.
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  24. Yes but we can’t talk about prostitution when it comes to minors. It’s not the same.
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  25. It actually helped me to share and I receive messages from others who say it has helped them.
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  26. So you think 16 yr old kids can be sex workers? I was locked in a room with adult men and had no where else to go.
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  27.  @Anxietypatient  "the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purposes of a commercial sex act, in which the person induced to perform such an act has not attained 18 years of age" (22 USC § 7102 (9-10)).
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  28. I was first sexually abused before the age of four.
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  29. I was born gay but that’s a common misconception. Just because I was sexually abused it doesn’t mean that’s the reason why I’m gay.
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  30. Why do you think you know what my experience was? Like what is wrong with people saying they know better than the people who live it?
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  31. What gives you the expertise to make this claim?
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  32. In the US there is only one safe home for males who have been sexually abused or trafficked and it’s located in Denton Tx. The issue is that kids who are kicked out of their homes do not get reported and go unseen. They are left in the streets to find their own way.
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  33.  @were-all-human9427  I do not have a release date for my memoir. I am waiting for it to be published which takes some work. If you are interested In learning more of my story, I was just featured in Rollingstone. The article is titled ‘He Was Young Gay and Sold For Sex’
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  34. "the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purposes of a commercial sex act, in which the person induced to perform such an act has not attained 18 years of age" (22 USC § 7102 (9-10)).
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  35. I was 16 and you know absolutely nothing about me. I’m actually not that sensitive. It’s called editing and you don’t know the questions that were asked in this interview.
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  36. Seeking attention? Locked in a room with adult men at the age of 16 and then testifying a decade later and learning that he did this to multiple boys? That’s seeking attention?
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  37. Real victims? I was locked in a room with adult men at the age of 16.
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  38. "the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purposes of a commercial sex act, in which the person induced to perform such an act has not attained 18 years of age" (22 USC § 7102 (9-10)).
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  39. Gandy always said he loved going to Bali because he could get anything he wanted for a dollar. Then I found the child sex abuse material on his laptop. It was all Asian and Latino boys. When I was 16 he told me he wanted to take me to open up a gym spa but now I know it was to traffic me.
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  40.  @tosheatower  you are calling a 16 yr old an adult? I was looking for support. I was threatened in my home to go to conversion therapy or get out. I chose to leave as my father chased me out of the house. Where would you go? What would you do if everyone in your life told you it was an abomination to be gay? If every time you told someone about the abuse at home, no one did anything about it? I wanted to finish school and build a life for myself. I thought Jason was going to help me and it didn’t end up the way he said it would. If that seems wrong to you it’s because you aren’t a 16 yr old.
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  41.  @tosheatower  it’s a systemic issue and to blame me for doing what I needed to do shows that you are privileged. It’s one thing for me to have been a prostitute(by definition you can’t be under the age of 18 and a prostitute) it’s another for someone to force and trick me into something I didn’t want to do. I take full responsibility for everything I chose to do over the age of 18. As for speaking to our youth my suggestion is to look for resources in and around your area but like I said in small towns in the south there rarely are any and LGBT are constantly discriminated against. I think for you, you should start with the federal definition of human trafficking.
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  42.  @tosheatower  also this isn’t my video. I didn’t edit this. We spent 2 days filming and not all of my story made it into the video. This is heavily edited for time purposes.
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  43.  @tosheatower  I’m not defensive I just know what argument you are trying to make and it isn’t an accurate one. If you think I need to take accountability then so do all the other survivors in this case and the Epstein case. If this is your mentality then clearly there is a lack of education on the topic and my suggestion is to do some research before commenting on a subject matter you know nothing about. You came on to share your view point about “twink bottoms” without any understanding of systemic issues within our community. Language matters!
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  44. You don’t know the full story. My father abused me long before I was 15. I wasn’t out looking for sex. I didn’t know where to go when my father threw me out!
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  45. I was a minor locked in a room with adult men. What part of that makes you think it’s okay for a 16 yr old?
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  46. If you weren’t in my shoes how could you be so sure? I grew up in a very Christian and conservative town. My parents threatened to send me to conversion therapy. I felt like I couldn’t disclose my sexuality to anyone at school or in the same town. If all you’ve ever known is that something is wrong with you, where would you go?
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