Sex Work as an LGBTQ Issue

LETTER ON LGBTQAI SEX WORKER COMMUNITY IMPACT FOR HILL BRIEFING

Document prepared as a part of a Hill Briefing in D.C. that took place on March 14th, 2019. Originally posted by Survivors Against SESTA.

As organizations working across diverse communities, we recognize that people who trade sex are an important part of our communities. To meaningfully improve the health, safety and wellness for our communities, policing, criminalization, stigma and isolation of people who trade sex must be addressed. We ask policymakers, representatives and our allies and partners to take a critical look at the way sex work is marginalized through current policy and seek to address these harms.

As organizations that support the health, rights and wellbeing of sex workers, we recommend policymakers and staff members:

  •         Meet with sex workers and sex worker-led organizations in your district to better understand the impact of criminalization and policing;
  •         Include people who trade sex in policy conversations on issues including trafficking, policing reform, health and racial equity; and
  •         Consider the impact of anti-trafficking policy on people who trade sex with the goal of addressing the root causes of exploitation and not exacerbating vulnerability to exploitation.

Sincerely,

AIDS United

American Civil Liberties Union

Amnesty International USA

Black and Pink

Center for Health and Gender Equity

Freedom Network USA

Harm Reduction Coalition

HIPS

Human Trafficking Prevention Project at the University of Baltimore School of Law

Lambda Legal

National Center for Lesbian Rights

National Center for Transgender Equality

National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund

National Network of Community Advocacy

Reframe Health and Justice

The Sero Project

Sex Workers Outreach Project USA

The Sex Workers Project

SWOP Behind Bars

The Support Ho(s)e Collective

Third Wave Fund

Trans Lifeline

Whitman-Walker Health

Woodhull Freedom Foundation