At a time when many LGBTQ2S communities are gaining rights, it is not OK to leave sexworkers out

Hi all,

I wanted to write about something that has been on my mind a lot lately - the popularity of advocating for marginalized groups' equality. This is all very well and good, but it is primarily LBGTQ2S that are now "popular" to advocate for. Again, those populations, especially trans folks, do need a lot of support, and I fully endorse advocating for as many marginalized populations as is possible in your free time without becoming a full-time activist/ or advocate. LGBTQ2S rights require the same as sexworker rights - we are on a very similar path.

Radical/carceral feminists as well, who claim to be against violence against women, also need to recognize sexwork as ACTUAL work, and not just their wilfully ignorant choosing of images (i.e, that we as SPs cannot consent because we've all been seduced by money, or a boy, or any other gender, and that we are stuck in this abyss forever). We need you on side, not just because this is an issue of violence against women (including police brutality), but also because we need other voices than just sexworkers to listen to us. Lately, it seems like no one is doing that, and we just can't have that. Listening is how you become more aware of the world around you - God gave all of us two ears and one mouth. Let's use them accordingly.

As I've addressed in other blogposts, trafficking will always be illegal. But what I find so fascinating about the populations I have previously mentioned is that when, for example, Backpage went down, no one from any of those populations had anything to say. When RentBoy went down, all hell was let loose from almost every gay mag I can think of. I wonder why that is. Why, on the day that gay marriage is made legal in Northern Ireland, is sexwork still illegal?

I think I have an answer, and it is, as many will expect, a disappointing one. I think, because victories were won in the 80s for all these marginalized populations, that sexwork rights have been rumour gossip. They have been talked about but cautiously danced around. People who have their human dignity can afford to ignore sexwork - they can pretend that they did not fight the good fight, or that some human beings are more equal than others. That is sad, and inhuman.

Margaret Cho is my new favourite person in the world of sexwork advocates. That said, Cho cannot afford to stand alone. All of the marginalized groups NEED TO REMEMBER that their lives, living as openly (insert here), would have been impossible in the early days. People need to speak up in favour of sexworker rights, and show that we as a society will not tolerate one set of individuals (LBGTQ2S) to be more equal than others (SWs).

Come together, fellow advocates! Together we make up more than the hetero-normative, cis-gender people who are in power. And that INCLUDES YOU, Kathleen Wynne.

Come together, and we will show them that we are strong.

Xoxo,

Olivia