Sex worker group urges Ann Arbor officials to strike down local prostitution law - MLive.com
ANN ARBOR, MI — A regional sex worker advocacy group is calling on Ann Arbor officials to strike down the city’s law against prostitution.
Zee St. James, a sex worker rights activist, addressed the Ann Arbor City Council Monday night, Jan. 3, on behalf of ANSWER Detroit, a group of sex workers formed over two years ago with a mission to decriminalize sex work.
The group’s name stands for A Network of Sex Workers to Excite Revolution.
“We are a peer-led organization that advocates on behalf of the rights of sex workers and other people in the sex trade,” St. James said. “Although we are based in the Detroit area, we’re involved in efforts on the state and national levels and have members who are Ann Arbor constituents, as well as members who work and go to school in Ann Arbor.”
St. James spoke out after council voted to give initial approval to a new disorderly conduct ordinance that states in part: “No person shall solicit or accost any other person in a public place for the purpose of inducing participation in an act of prostitution.” A violation is a misdemeanor crime punishable by up to 90 days in jail and/or a $500 fine.
The local prohibition and penalties are not new and carry over from an existing ordinance that is being updated.
The ordinance revisions simply make the penalties clearer and change pronouns to use gender-neutral language, while also omitting some provisions that are more appropriately handled under state law, said Deputy City Attorney Arianne Slay, who is leading the city’s ordinance reform project.
Council members voted 9-0 without discussion in favor of the new ordinance continuing the prohibition on prostitution and did not respond to requests for comment after the meeting on the concerns raised by ANSWER Detroit.
Council Members Jeff Hayner, D-1st Ward, and Linh Song, D-2nd Ward, were absent.
The ordinance comes back to council for a public hearing and second reading Jan. 18.
Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit announced when he took office in January 2021 the prosecutor’s office will no longer criminally prosecute people engaged in consensual sex work, focusing instead on cases involving human trafficking, sexual assault and sexual exploitation of children.
“The Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office is well aware that sex work carries an increased risk for violence, human trafficking and coercion. Data and experience, however, have shown that criminalizing sex work does little to alleviate those harms,” Savit wrote in the policy.
ANSWER Detroit now wants Ann Arbor to strike down its prostitution law “to make our lives and the lives of our families and communities safer,” St. James said.
“We are in a housing crisis, people are struggling financially,” she said, mentioning difficulties of the pandemic and arguing the most vulnerable are open to being profiled for soliciting.
“And although ANSWER commends Prosecutor Eli Savit on his policy to not bring charges for adult consensual sex work, we need to remove the city ordinance to ensure the safety of populations most vulnerable to racist and transphobic profiling and police violence,” she said. “Amending this ordinance is a tangible way we could prioritize the rights and safety of transgender residents, houseless residents and any other residents profiled as soliciting.”
The city needs to get rid of laws that criminalize poverty, St. James said, arguing taxpayer funds used for police enforcement of such ordinances can be diverted into programs such as non-police crisis response and non-punitive voluntary services from trusted service providers who are informed about trauma and lived experiences of systemic violence.
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source: https://www.mlive.com/news/ann-arbor/2022/01/sex-worker-group-urges-ann-arbor-officials-to-strike-down-local-prostitution-law.html
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