NEW YORK — New York State legislators introduced a bill today that would decriminalize sex work and repeal statutes that prohibit the buying and selling of sex between adults.
Current laws against rape and assault, sexual harassment and human trafficking would be unaffected.
The 13-page bill was introduced today, following calls for legislation to address the issue earlier this year, according to reports. Advocacy group DecrimNY.org is the driving force behind the bill, sponsored by state senators Jessica Ramos and Julia Salazar.
Five other senators also introduced a companion bill into the state Assembly.
The bill modifies laws “around facilities that are used as places of prostitution,” according to one report, and would legalize the buying and selling of sex “under certain circumstances.”
Ramos and Salazar stress their bill protects LGBTQ youth, living on the street, who have been found to trade sex at higher rates than of other youths, and undocumented immigrants, who make up the largest group arrested in massage parlor raids.
“Every worker in New York and beyond has an inherent right to a safe workplace environment no matter what work they do. We are here to affirm sex work is work,” said Ramos during a news conference.
Jessica Raven is a former sex worker and an activist who works with DecrimNY. She penned an op-ed for the Daily News that addresses the core components of the proposed legislation.
“New York criminalizes adults for trading sex for resources, but falls short in addressing root causes. Instead, we subject sex workers, and the people who live and work with them, to state violence,” she said. “Criminal records make it harder for people in the sex trades to access resources such as housing, services and other employment.”
Further, she notes, "criminalization also makes workers more vulnerable to police violence." Decriminalization protects sex workers who could vet clients and report violence because their work would no longer be underground. "We distinguish this model from legalization models like we’ve seen in Nevada and Amsterdam, where those who are most marginalized, such as people who don’t have documentation or are experiencing homelessness, are excluded by strict legal requirements that empower owners and managers over workers themselves."
Read the full text of the proposed legislation here.
Follow DecrimNY on Twitter.