LGBTQ youth, who often run away from home seeking acceptance, trade sex at seven to eight times the rate of other youth in New York City. Young people trading sex for housing and resources is a crisis — no one wants them to be doing so. But entangling them in the criminal justice system does not stop them. We need more youth services, healthcare and housing that affirm their LGBTQ identities — not policing — so young people don’t have to trade sex for survival.