It is a basic fact of the moral universe that young girls and boys should not be sold for sexual exploitation. However, in America, girls and boys are regularly manipulated, coerced, and forced into sex for money. Most are trafficked from within the United States, not far off foreign lands. Many are as young as eleven or twelve. And many are sold on prominent Web sites such as Backpage.com, owned by Village Voice Media.

This morning, an unexpected coalition of faith and moral leaders -- Mainline Protestants, Catholics, Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, Humanists, and Evangelical Christians -- published a full-page ad in the New York Times calling upon Village Voice Media to shut down their adult services section. They amplify the opinion of fifty-one State Attorneys General that Village Voice Media should follow Craigslist's example and take down the adult services section of Backpage.com because it is used as a prominent commercial platform for sex trafficking of girls and boys.

Click to read Valarie's entire article in the Huffington Post.