If anyone deserves a break these days, it’s got to be sex workers. Relentlessly marginalized, demonized and victimized, they are literally fighting for their lives. Yet amidst the onslaught, hope glimmers. And so it is with cautious optimism that we celebrate some of the encouraging developments in the fight to decriminalize sex work. First stop: New York.
In June, New York state legislators introduced the Stop Violence in the Sex Trades Act, which supporters describe as “the first statewide bill of its kind in the nation’s history.” Drafted in collaboration with Decrim NY, a sex worker advocacy group, the bill would amend prostitution law “so that consenting adults who trade sex, collaborate with or support sex working peers or patronize adult sex workers will not be criminalized.” Cautious hurray?
