I've been working pretty nonstop on Proposition K to decriminalize prostitution in SF. It's hard work and there are always a million things to do. I've been speaking at endorsement meetings, organizing groups, and spending way too much time at City Hall.

At first I viewed the campaign as more of statement than anything. I thought it was near impossible that it would pass. Now with the endorsement of the DCCC (Democratic County Central Committee), things are starting to look up. Over 50 sex workers and their allies spoke at the endorsement meeting, urging the members to vote yes. We spoke out about our safety and our rights. The opposition was there, and spoke as well. However, their weak arguments could not compete with the real issues at hand. The endorsement came with 18 yes votes, including Supervisors Tom Ammiano, Chris Daly, and Jake McGoldrick, Senator Carole Migden, Assemblyman Mark Leno, Eric Mar (running for Supervisor), and Former District Attorney Arlo Smith.

Wow, right? How progressive, how forward thinking, and what a triumph for worker safety and human rights!

Oh, but um.. nevermind.

The DCCC is thinking of reversing their endorsement. Here's an article about the rumored change: link.

I am really disappointed. We'll be at the next DCCC meeting to speak again.

If you'd like to help we could really use more letters to the editor, donations, work on endorsements from all over the country, and help fundraising. If you're in the Bay Area, please consider coming to the DCCC meeting this Wednesday August 27th at 7 pm at 455 Golden Gate, Basement, Milton Marks Auditorium. And you don't have to speak if you don't want to, but it would help.

Here are our main talking points:

Proposition K is a San Francisco ballot measure that will increase worker and public safety by decriminalizing prostitution. Over 12,000 San Franciscans placed Proposition K on the ballot to ensure that basic and fundamental human and worker rights are extended to all members of society.

Proposition K decriminalizes, but does not legalize, sex-for-hire work. Proposition K simply de-prioritizes the enforcement of laws against  prostitution and removes the legal barriers that prevent sex workers from reporting violent crimes committed against them and deprives them of the right to legally seek safer working conditions.

PROPOSITION K WILL IMPROVE:

• Worker Safety by ensuring that crimes committed against sex workers can be reported without fear of prosecution and requiring that the Police Department and District Attorney�€™s Office  vigorously enforce laws against extortion, battery, rape and other violent crimes; regardless of the victim�€™s status as a sex worker
• Public Safety by freeing up the critical resources currently used to enforce prostitution laws so that those funds can be used to combat higher priority crimes like human trafficking
• Public Health by lessening the stigma that prevents many workers from seeking basic health care services

PROPOSITION K WILL NOT:

• Stop the enforcement of the child labor and abuse laws
• Prevent law enforcement from investigating and prosecuting human traffickers
• Stop the enforcement of laws against lewd acts in public, littering, or other �€œquality of life�€� offenses

THE YES ON K CAMPAIGN KICKS OFF THE POLITICAL SEASON AT THE EL RIO

The Yes On K campaign will hold its first fundraiser of the political season next week. Proposition K is a groundbreaking San Francisco ballot measure that will increase worker and public safety by decriminalizing prostitution. All funds will be used to support the Yes on K campaigns efforts to educate voters on the importance of extending basic and fundamental human and worker rights to all members of society.

WHO: Adult entertainer Madison Young, music by Digital Intelligence Extreme, and hosted the Queen of Charm; Lady Monster and Fudgie Frottage
WHEN: Friday September 5th, 2008, doors open at 9 pm
WHERE: El Rio 3158 Mission St at Cesar Chavez, San Francisco, CA 94110
Call (415) 282-3325 for directions
ADMISSION: $20 and up

DOOR PRIZES

Sponsored with the Erotic Service Providers Union (http://espu-ca.org),

The Erotic Service Providers Union organizes on behalf of all erotic service providers for occupational, health, safety, social, civil, and economic rights. An Erotic Service Provider is anyone who is compensated for his or her erotic services or compensated for their support of someone else’s erotic service.

SF CHRON 9/15/08

For men who preferred sex with women seeking fortune during the birth of our fair city, they were pretty much out of luck � until the first six months of 1850, when around 2,000 women arrived by ship at the Port of San Francisco: prostitutes, many of whom were from France, New York and New Orleans. After that (the Pink Rush?), working girls arrived on virtually every single ship that came into port, and San Francisco possessed a red light district (many, actually) several times the size of those in other cities in the world. And speaking globally, there was not one country in the world that was not represented on the streets or high-class parlors by at least one sex worker. Most of the accomplished and sought-after courtesans were French and accompanied by their pimps, called macquereaux, a term shortened by savvy San Franciscans to "macks." Just in case you wondered where that word came from. I’m talking to you, William Safire.

We built this city not on rock and roll, dear readers.

According to Herbert Asbury’s "The Barbary Coast,""The foundation upon which the Barbary Coast reared its fantastic structure of crime and debauchery was a system of commercialized prostitution that occupied semi-legal status." Sounds to me like the groundwork for Proposition K -- the hot-button prostitution decriminalization issue on November’s 2008 ballot -- was, ahem, laid long ago (and tolerated for nearly three-quarters of a century).

As with Proposition K now, back then anti-sex hysterics decried voluntary sex-for-pay for every reason under sun, moon and Golden Gate Bridge, for both moral and health reasons. It wasn’t the clergy who raged and rallied (and paid for their 50-cent pussy like the rest of ‘em), but the Board of Supervisors and the San Francisco Board of Health who in 1911 set up a Municipal Clinic for sex workers. It compelled, by way of police enforcement, every working girl to get regular exams and treatment (if needed) every four days (including a blood test), and no woman was permitted to enter a brothel or work without a health certificate including her photograph and a booklet of exam history. Fail to produce proof of health before going to work and go to jail. Within the two years the clinic operated (until pressure from clergy groups had police protection withdrawn and the clinic was shuttered) -- the clinic had reduced sexually transmitted diseases and infections in San Francisco by a stunning 66%.

That was a century ago. Nowadays, we have the St. James Infirmary, Bayswan, COYOTE, vociferous anti-sex-work opposition to all of the above, and dangerous conditions for prostitutes a-plenty (not to mention wasted city resources). But most importantly, on the ballot this November we have Proposition K. Alternet’s recent post about Proposition K, Should Prostitution Be Legalized? featured a poll showing that 73% of respondents not only supported decriminalization but legalization as well. I asked Patricia West, sex work activist and current sex worker, a few questions about Proposition K, what it would really mean to San Franciscans, and how it would impact the city, if it passed.

Violet Blue: When local porn company Kink.com purchased and moved into The Armory (cleaning it up and fixing all the outside lighting) a small group of protesters claimed that because it is a sex-related business, Kink's influence would harm the neighborhood (the same protesters also compared the consensual BDSM of Kink’s subject matter to Abu Ghraib). What is Proposition K's response to people who will surely say that decriminalizing prostitution in SF will be "harmful to families and communities?"

Patricia West: Proposition K will not stop the enforcement of laws against lewd acts in public, littering, or other "quality of life" offenses. It will allow sex workers to organize for their rights and safety. Proposition K will also free up critical resources currently used to enforce prostitution laws so that those funds can be used to combat higher priority crimes truly "harmful to families and communities."

VB: Anti-K pundits seem to think that all sex workers are victims, and seem to be muddying the issues by saying that Prop K would make human sex trafficking harder to stop. What's the difference between sex work and human trafficking, and why can't anti-K people seem to be able to tell the difference?

PW: Sex work is consensual adult sex for pay. Human trafficking is done by force and coercion. Proposition K will not prevent law enforcement from investigating and prosecuting human traffickers. Additionally, when Proposition K passes, workers and clients will then feel free and safe to report abuses in our own industry without fear of prosecution. The opposition is using the term as a scare tactic; their hope is to associate Proposition K with this reprehensible practice. This is their dishonest campaign strategy and it does a disservice to the voters of San Francisco.

VB: So, will there be legal brothels in SF if it passes?

PW: No, there will not be legal brothels in San Francisco when Proposition K passes. Proposition K is about the decriminalization of prostitution, not legalization. Decriminalization is a reasonable balance between legalization and criminalization. Proposition K will stop the city's prosecution of prostitutes. It requires that the Police Department and District Attorney's office vigorously enforce laws against extortion, battery, rape and other violent crimes; regardless of the victim's status as a sex worker.

VB So, if a sex worker is raped or beaten, as it stands now she/he/they are afraid to report the crime and seek help. San Francisco’s past showed that decriminalized access to health care for sex workers over 100 years ago had an enormously positive impact. Does Prop K have anything to do with sexual health in the city like that?

PW Proposition K will improve public health by lessening the stigma that prevents many workers from seeking basic health-care services. Also, possession of condoms is currently used as criminal evidence against workers. In my experience as a Street Outreach volunteer, I have had some workers refuse condoms for fear of arrest.

VB: Would Prop K help our police officers on the street?

PW: Proposition K will allow police to focus on higher impact crimes including crimes of violence that occur on the street. It will also remove the fear of prosecution that currently prevents sex workers from fully co-operating with law enforcement.

VB: Why does Prop K state that the city not support any program that "forces sex workers into re-education programs?" (And what is a re-education program? -- It sounds scary, like Guantanamo Bay or Thetan purification or that scene in "Clockwork Orange."?)

PW: Proposition K calls for the city to end support of mandatory programs that workers are forced into after arrest. These sex-negative programs shame the workers and assume that all workers are victims, which is clearly untrue. Voluntary services will not be affected and will hopefully receive greater support.

VB: What can we do to help Prop K pass?

PW:Vote yes on Proposition K in November, tell your friends and contact us at info@yesonpropk.org to donate or volunteer.

SADIE LUNE! 9/23/08