October 22, 2012
Opposition to Prop 35, also known as the Case Act, is growing. Sex worker groups are calling for a public forum on Prop 35 on Monday, October 29 on the steps of City Hall at 12 noon. We are inviting the proponent and funder of the proposition ex-Facebook millionaire Chris Kelly to debate us.
Prop 35 pretends to be about protecting young people from trafficking but the opposite is true. It criminalizes anyone who assists young people in prostitution -- a young person under 21 working with a friend could face prosecution as a trafficker and sex offender status for life, for giving her/him something "of value". It will increase law enforcement, which will result in more raids, prosecutions and imprisonment of sex workers. Pushing prostitution underground leaves sex workers more vulnerable to rape and abuse. Victims of violence will be deterred from reporting for fear of arrest, and for those of us who are immigrant, for fear of deportation.
Prop 35 does nothing to help genuine victims of trafficking – no housing, welfare, or other resources are provided to help victims recover and rebuild their lives. Victims get no direct funds. Existing laws on rape, kidnapping and exploitation could be used against violent offenders if there was the will to do so. Prop 35 exaggerates the extent of child sex trafficking by using phony statistics; mystifies the rape and abduction of children by calling it “commercial sexual exploitation” and “trafficking”.
It downgrades the most common forms of trafficking -- in domestic work, sweat shops, agriculture, restaurants -- by providing lower penalties for these labor victims. Prop 35 encourages corruption: police and NGOs will get the money collected in fines, giving them a vested interest in more and more arrests. It allows a massive law enforcement intrusion and invasion of privacy of the internet.
Prop 35 promotes a moral crusade by misleading the public and mixing up prostitution, which is consenting sex, with trafficking, which is force, coercion and fraud. A similar crusade against Craigslist deprived sex workers of a way to advertise and work independently.
For more information contact US PROStitutes Collective; email uspros@allwomencount.net
www.uspros.net