Prostitution is so much easier than Non-disclosure Agreements.

June 3, 2019
By Rachel Kurzius

A bill (click here) that would decriminalize sex work in Washington D.C. will be reintroduced at the D.C. Council on Tuesday, this time with four councilmembers in support.

As drafted, the Community Safety and Health Amendment Act of 2019 would “remove certain criminal penalties for engaging in sex work in order to promote public health and safety.” It does not include any measures that would create red light districts in D.C. or otherwise regulate sex work. Coercing people to engage in sex work against their will would still be illegal, as would human and child trafficking.

At-large Councilmembers David Grosso and Robert White, who co-introduced a similar measure in 2017, are now joined by At-large Councilmember Anita Bonds and Ward 1 Councilmember Brianne Nadeau, as jurisdictions across the country are seeing sex work decriminalization movements gain steam. Last term, the original bill was sent to the Judiciary Committee, where it never got a hearing.

“We have to be making sure we’re looking after our constituents,” says Nadeau. “Those who engage in sex work are our constituents. Let’s make sure that people engaging in sex work are being fully supported,” she says, comparing the harm reduction strategy to the “same reason that we decided as a city that we want to address the root causes of drug use and violence.”...

...The legislation comes at a time when sex work-related charges have more than doubled year-over-year from 2017 to 2018, according to data from the Metropolitan Police Department. In 2017, D.C. police charged 228 people with crimes associated with sex work (the bulk of them, 197, were for sexual solicitation). Compare that to 2018, when there were 551 such charges (including 512 for sexual solicitation)....