On November 4th, day of the US presidential election,
another historic vote is taking place.
The people of San Francisco will vote on Proposition K
Decriminalizing sex work
Prioritizing sex workers’ safety & rights.
Vote YES on PROP K!
US PROStitutes Collective
(US PROS) is part of a coalition supporting Proposition K. Five days
before the election, we are holding a
Town Hall meeting. Join us on
October 30th,
Unitarian Universalist Church, 1187 Franklin Street, SF
What is Prop K?
It’s
a San Francisco ballot initiative calling for prostitution to be
decriminalized, and for the police and District Attorney to vigorously
enforce laws against coercion, extortion, battery, rape and other
violent crimes regardless of whether the victim is a sex worker.
Proposition K aims to increase women’s safety, and make it easier for
sex workers to report violence without fear of arrest.
Prop
K would implement the ground breaking recommendations of the San
Francisco Task Force on Prostitution set up by the Board of Supervisors
which called for decriminalization in 1996. Following the Task Force,
the ‘Mitigating Violence Against Prostitutes’ resolution was passed by
the Board of Supervisors in 2000 -- it won widespread support, including
from key City Commissions, organizations and individuals.
Prop K is transformational
On
election day when many people are hoping for a transformation away from
the politics of war, greed and repression, many San Franciscans are also
hoping for a transformation for sex workers. Sex workers too are hard
working families who deserve recognition and safety. Prop K can change
the course of law enforcement, away from consenting sex, towards rape
and other violent crime, away from witch-hunting towards practical
support.
Who supports Prop K?
According to the polls, a majority of San Franciscans support
decriminalization. So does SF’s Democratic Party Proponents of Prop K in
the Ballot Information Pamphlet (the election pamphlet the City
delivers to all SF households) include sex workers, sex worker
organizations and people providing services to sex workers, a public
health doctor, a key LGBT club, the National Lawyers Guild, community
groups -- all spelling out the devastating impact of criminalization and
jail. See
San Francisco Bay Guardian
Interviews with Prop K Proponents
and arguments in
support of Prop K
http://www.sfgov.org/site/uploadedfiles/elections/Nov2008_VIP_EN_2.pdf.
Women’s organizations like Legal Action for Women and the Global Women’s
Strike and some of the media also back Prop K.
The Prop K Coalition
The
Coalition is led by sex workers and includes supporters from all walks
of life from different communities in San Francisco (SF): mothers and
grandmothers, students, doctors, nurses, lawyers, community
organizers…They have been spreading the word, walking precincts with
campaign brochures and window signs, holding events and fundraisers and
speaking to the media. The Coalition has called on sex workers and
supporters to come to SF to help with the final push
US
PROS has been campaigning for decriminalization since we were formed in
1981. We were not involved in drafting Proposition K so we didn’t get
all that we wanted in, but it is a unique opportunity to join forces and
stand together against the discrimination we have faced for so long. We
are one of a number of organizations and individuals who have written
their argument in the Ballot Information Pamphlet.
Who opposes Prop K?
The
opposition to Prop K is made up of police and the District Attorney;
property developers and merchants working with the police, programs that
benefit from city contracts for anti-prostitution law enforcement,
including some call themselves feminists and have been conducting a
moralistic crusade against prostitutes..
Prop
K would stop city government funding going to discriminatory
anti-prostitute programs that are part of the criminal justice system,
and enforce mandatory ‘rehabilitation’ and other repressive measures
under threat of jail. The anti-sex worker bias of those opposing Prop K
is being reinforced by some of the mainstream media. Rather than
putting forward clear, precise and balanced information to the public,
they are spreading lies to discredit Prop K and confuse voters, claiming
it will prevent traffickers from being prosecuted.
Prop K supports workers and opposes traffickers
Prop
K calls on vigorous enforcement of laws against rape and any form of
violence and coercion, and that would include traffickers. It would
protect all sex workers from exploitation and violence, and immigrant
sex workers from being unfairly targeted for raids and deportation.
Jeff
Adachi, head of the SF Office of the Public Defender, states that ‘Prop
K would not prohibit local law enforcement from enforcing the federal
law to combat the exploitation of persons who are kidnapped,
transported, abused and held captive by sex traffickers.’ He also points
out that right now, traffickers are not being prosecuted: ‘Since
the passage of the California Trafficking Victims Protection Act (in
January 1, 2006), I am not aware of any prosecutions for human
trafficking under this section.’ So for all the fuss about stopping
trafficking, traffickers have been getting away with it all along!
It is
really immigrant sex workers who have been the target. Those opposed to
Prop K say that women of color are being trafficked, but they say
nothing about the immigration raids conducted under the guise of
‘freeing victims of trafficking’ to round up and deport women of color.
Nor do they mention how many women of color are arrested for
prostitution.
Prop K is anti-racist
Prop
K would stop enforcement of prostitution laws which disproportionately
impact Black and Brown women who have the least resources. Racism
ensures that Black and Brown women are more likely to work the streets
rather than the safer and higher paid inside jobs, and are therefore
more vulnerable to both violence and arrest. Neighborhoods such as the
Mission, Western Addition and the Tenderloin bear the brunt of racist
policing and courts; as a result the majority of people arrested and
going to jail for prostitution and other ‘crimes of poverty’ are people
of color. Sex workers and others living and working in predominantly
low-income Black and immigrant communities would benefit greatly from
Prop K.
Prop K would free funds to fight poverty
Campaign materials highlight the $11.4 million (a conservative estimate)
spent each year enforcing the prostitution laws in SF. US PROS has for
decades campaigned for the money spent on criminalization to be used
instead to tackle the poverty, homelessness, domestic violence, debt, .
. . that force women, particularly single mothers and young people, into
prostitution to survive.
Measures like Prop K have worked elsewhere
New
Zealand decriminalized prostitution five years ago and there has been no
increase in prostitution or trafficking. Women say they feel safer as
they are more able to insist on their rights and report violence to the
police.
Let’s win on November 4th!
The
excitement mounting around Prop K is a sign of the growing movement
demanding transformational change in the lead up to the presidential
election. A win for Prop K is a victory over the years of repression
that have criminalized the most vulnerable among us, and the violence
and discrimination we have suffered as a result. It will set an
important precedent in the US and far beyond.
Check
out the Prop K Website:
http://www.yesonpro pk.org/
Proposition K, San Francisco, November 2008:
ENFORCEMENT OF LAWS RELATED TO PROSTITUTION AND SEX WORKERS
Ballot Pamphlet
Summary- San Francisco 2008
"Enforcement of Laws Related to Prostitution and Sex Workers"
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 K 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 K 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 K 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. Do we need this?
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