A league of lawmakers and organizations announced the launch of Decrim NY yesterday, a coalition for advocacy on behalf of sex workers and people who are profiled as sex workers.
The announcement was made at a press conference at 12 p.m. yesterday, by Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, Senate Labor Committee Chair Jessica Ramos and State Senator Julia Salazar, among others. The coalition’s first act will be the introduction of the most comprehensive sex work decriminalization bill that the country has ever seen. The bill will focus on repealing misdemeanor charges for prostitutes and their clients, and erasing prostitution from sex workers’ criminal records.
Richard Gottfried said that decriminalizing prostitution will both a) prevent sex workers from facing exploitation and violence, and b) make human trafficking and statutory rape easier to prosecute.
“Criminalizing prostitution doesn’t stop it – it just drives it into the shadows where sex workers face increased violence, abuse and exploitation,” said Gottfried. “Keeping sex work criminalized makes it harder to enforce laws against human trafficking and sex with minors. Decriminalization means increasing access to legal assistance, health care, and employment rights for people who today and historically have been working in an underground economy. Sex workers will have rights as working people. Working legally would give them greater ability to refuse clients, which is critical to personal safety.”
Ramos concurred with Gottfried’s sentiments, claiming that sex workers deserve the same respect and dignity as workers in any other field.
“I’ve seen sex workers on Roosevelt Avenue nearly my entire life,” said Ramos. “I’ve met some neighbors who simply want to erase the people working there. Ultimately, sex work is work. Decriminalizing sex work will protect sex workers from exploitation, allow them to seek protection from trafficking, and will help victims of sex trafficking seek justice.”
State Senator Brad Hoylman said that the new bill will be particularly beneficial to New York’s LGBTQ community, who are disproportionately affected by the state’s anti-prostitution laws.
“It’s unacceptable that in 2019, New York is still incarcerating and prosecuting sex workers,” said Hoylman. “What our current laws treat as a crime is, for many marginalized New Yorkers, a tenuous lifeline and a livelihood. Criminalization renders them vulnerable. It disproportionately impacts LGBTQI+ New Yorkers, immigrants, and people of color, and furthers a devastating cycle of violence and incarceration. This has to end. Decriminalizing and destigmatizing the sex trade will ensure our laws target those who exploit sex workers rather than the workers themselves. I’m proud to stand with Senator Ramos, Senator Salazar, Assemblymember Gottfried, and the entire Decrim NY coalition in the fight to treat workers across our state with equity and fairness.”
