Good Vibrations Magazine

My good friend just moved to Canada to go to law school. Why Canada? Because she’s interested in the rights of prostitutes and other sex workers, and in the US, prostitution is a crime. Boo.

Are you located in the Bay Area or know someone who is?

Let them know that they can come to the State Building this Wednesday (ie Tomorrow) August 13th at 6:30pm to testify or to support those who testify about why sex work should be decriminalized in San Francisco. You just need to get up and talk for ONE MINUTE about why you support this – regardless if you identify as a sex worker – just if you support this issue. Feel free to bring a mask if you do not want to show you face. There is an example of what to say listed below, so this does not have to be off-the-cuff. The summary that will appear on the ballot pamphlet is also listed below. For extensive informaiton, please go to: http://www.bayswan.org/SFInitiative08

(Warning: this clip is Not Safe for Sex Workers. ; ) If anyone has any tip on how to stomach watching Bill O’Reilly please let me know.)

THIS IS **YOUR** BIG CHANCE TO HELP DECRIMINALIZE PROSTITUTION!

Show up for Public Testimony at Democratic Central Committee. This Wednesday, August 13 at the State Building, 455 Golden Gate between Larkin and Polk, (across from the Federal Building) Milton Marks Auditorium (in the basement?)

Show up at 6:30 PM even though the meeting starts at 7 PM, but we are very close to the top of the agenda. This is the most important and most promising endorsement meeting, the Democratic Central Committee. They are the ones with the most flyer distribution and people take it pretty seriously. If we can get our friends to come to this meeting, it could have a HUGE impact on the initiative. We also have to make sure they don’t endorse in opposition to us! (BTW the Harvey Milk Club PAC endorsed us, so it’s coming along!)

Email Carol or Slava to let us know you are coming or call 415-751-1659 for more info. Pass this to your personal friends. We are also posting this around. We want sex workers and supporters, even (and especially) with masks for security purposes to come forth and ask the committee to endorse the Sex Work Prostitution Ballot Measure.

Please DON’T FEEL ANY PRESSURE TO ‘COME OUT’ as all supporters’ voices are important. Further info, contact:

Slava Osowska, IWW “Slava”
Carol Leigh, BAYSWAN Carol Leigh

So, the meeting is around 7 PM at the Sate building-AND PUBLIC COMMENT IS AT THE BEGINNING. You can gather outside and be with friends at 6:30 to be safe and so we can talk together. We believe phone banking for this would be helpful, calling your friends and asking them to show up. Please call me for help with that. 415-751-1659. Your speech will be 1 minute long. Even if you don’t testify, your presence will be appreciated. Personal experiences are valuable, etc. A focused message would be about WORKERS ORGANIZING and SAFETY, but individual accounts are also valuable.

For example, my speech is: (I have worked as a sex worker in San Francisco for ____ years. Or, you could say: Many people in my community are sex workers.) I am asking the Democratic Central Committee to endorse the prostitution ballot measure. We are workers. We are an important part of San Francisco. We have contributed a great deal, historically and now, through culture and economically. The criminalization makes us vulnerable to all sorts of abuses such as rape, robbery. As criminals, we can’t access police protection as we are targets of the police. We need to be decriminalized in order to be able to organize as workers. As members of the community, we ask you to endorse the ballot measure to support the health, safety and labor rights of sex workers. (You might also want to say you are a registered Democrat if you are. )

Background info for you: Below is the summary as it will appear in ballot pamphlet. For extensive information, including complete text of the measure. You can also see video including Leigh, Few (with Bill O’Reilly), Starchild (on CNN) and Cindy Sheehan at the rally advocating for the ballot measure.

San Francisco Prostitution Ballot Measure 2008: ENFORCEMENT OF LAWS RELATED TO PROSTITUTION AND SEX WORKERS Prostitution Ballot Measure as it will appear in the San Francisco Voters’ Pamphlet 2008 THE WAY IT IS NOW: State and local laws prohibit prostitution. State and federal laws prohibit human trafficking for prostitution or forced labor. Criminal laws also prohibit crimes such as battery, extortion and rape, regardless of the victim’s status as a prostitute or sex worker. In 1994, the Board of Supervisors established a Task Force on Prostitution (Task Force) to examine prostitution in the City and to recommend social and legal reforms.

In 1996 the Task Force released a report recommending that:

* City departments stop enforcing and prosecuting prostitution crimes;

* City departments instead focus on neighborhood complaints about quality of life infractions;

* The City redirect funds from prosecution and incarceration to providing services and alternatives for those involved in prostitution.

To date, the City has implemented some of the Task Force’s recommendations. In 2003, the City adopted an ordinance transferring the licensing and regulation of massage parlors from the Police Department to the Department of Public Health (DPH). In 2006, DPH adopted another recommendation by establishing an anonymous telephone message line for sex workers to voice concerns about their working conditions. The District Attorney’s office, in cooperation with the Police Department and a local non-profit organization, manages the First Offender Prostitution Program. This is a diversion program with separate programs for prostitutes and clients who have been arrested. It is partially funded by fees from clients who have been arrested.

THE PROPOSAL: Proposition __ would prohibit the Police Department from providing resources to investigate and prosecute prostitution. It would also prohibit the Police Department from applying for federal or state funds that involve racial profiling to target alleged trafficking victims and would require any existing funds to implement the Task Force’s recommendations.

Proposition ___ would require the Police Department and the District Attorney to enforce existing criminal laws that prohibit coercion, extortion, battery, rape, sexual assault and other violent crimes, regardless of the victim’s status as a sex worker. It also requires these agencies to fully disclose the investigation and prosecution of violent crimes against sex workers.

Proposition ___ would prohibit the City from funding or supporting the First Offender Prostitution Program or any similar anti-prostitution program.

The Board of Supervisors would be able to amend this measure by a two-thirds vote if it found the amendments would reduce criminalization of prostitution and violence against sex workers.

A “YES” VOTE MEANS: If you vote “yes,” you want the City to:

* stop enforcing laws against prostitution,

* stop funding or supporting the First Offender Prostitution Program or any similar anti-prostitution program,

* enforce existing criminal laws that prohibit crimes such as battery, extortion and rape, regardless of the victim’s status as a sex worker, and

* fully disclose the investigation and prosecution of violent crimes against sex workers.

A “NO” VOTE MEANS: If you vote “no,” you do not want to make these changes