When he spoke out for those who couldn’t, Joshua “Zeke” Thomas started an important conversation

Joshua “Zeke” Thomas, a gay African-American DJ and music producer, found himself catapulted into the world of sexual assault advocacy after he gave an exclusive interview on ABC’s Good Morning America in April, 2017.

According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC), nearly one in five women and one in 71 men have been raped in their lifetime. Based on a survey it conducted, more than 3,730,000 people were raped (including threatened, attempted, or completed) in the United States in 2018 and there was a 15 percent decrease of reported assaults, from 40 percent of cases reported to the police in 2017 to 25 percent being reported in 2018

“I want to give the voiceless a voice,” the 28-year-old said during the show, just after revealing to anchor Robin Roberts, and the world, that he had been sexually assaulted the year before.

That sentiment hasn’t changed today, three years after the ground- breaking interview.