|
Bella Robinson
|
The Plaintiffs, Erotic Service Provider Legal, Education & Research Project (“ESPLERP”), K.L.E.S., C.V., J.B., and John Doe complain of Defendants and allege:
INTRODUCTION
1. American courts continue to recognize that private sexual activity is a fundamental liberty interest protected by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Yet, when the private, consensual sexual activity occurs as part of a voluntary commercial exchange between adults, the State prohibits the activity and deprives those adults of their constitutional rights.
2. The commercial exchange of private sexual activity between consenting adults harms no one. Unlike other acts made criminal (things like murder, human trafficking, or robbery), the commercial exchange of sex produces no victims. As such, there is no compelling or legitimate governmental interest in its criminalization.
3. By this complaint, Plaintiffs challenge the constitutionality of statutes (both on their face and as they may be applied to Plaintiffs) criminalizing the commercial exchange of consensual, adult sexual activity. Plaintiffs seek a declaration that the laws themselves are unconstitutional, as well as preliminary and permanent injunctive relief prohibiting their enforcement
************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Maxine Doogan
info@esplerp.org
(415) 265 3302
Act Now to #DecriminalizeHIV, #DecriminalizeSexWork
The Time To Act Is Now. But Laws Against Prostitution Endanger The Health Of Sex Workers
San Francisco, CA, December 1, 2015 — The Time to Act is Now. That’s the US government’s theme for World AIDS Day 2015. But the reality is that the same government’s laws criminalizing prostitution place sex workers at great risk of harassment and violence, often at the hands of police, which in turn undermines sex workers’ rights to use safety measures like condoms and access health services in particular.
Many jurisdictions allow police to treat the possession of condoms as evidence of sex work, which places sex workers in a double bind – use condoms to protect themselves and place themselves at risk of prosecution, or do not use condoms and place themselves and their clients at risk of HIV.
The US recently pledged at the United Nations Human Rights Council to protect the human rights of sex workers, and a critical step towards meeting that obligation would be for Police Departments and District Attorneys to cease using the possession of condoms as evidence of prostitution, a policy that endangers the health and lives of sex workers, transgender persons, LGBT youth, and all members of the community.
The Erotic Service Providers Legal, Education and Research Project (ESPLERP) is working to decriminalize sex work through a lawsuit in US District Court alleging that California’s prostitution statute, Statute 647(b) of the California Penal Code, violates fundamental constitutional privacy rights.
The Erotic Service Providers Legal, Education and Research Project (ESPLERP) is a diverse community-based coalition advancing sexual privacy rights through impact litigation, education, and research.
Erotic Service Providers Legal, Education and Research Project (ESPLERP)
2261 Market St. #548 San Francisco, CA 94114
@esplerp
Critical Links: Coyote Rhode Island Facebook Page
International Day To End Violence Against Sex Workers
Sex Workers and Erotic Service Provider Legal, Educational and Research Project
ESPLERP V. Gascon
|
|
|
|
