On Tuesday, July 17th at noon sex workers from around the United States will converge on the San Francisco federal building at 450 Golden Gate. Prostitutes, escorts, massage parlour workers, BDSM workers and phone sex operators will be among the participants asking federal authorities to rescind the anti prostitution oath that has been inflicted upon non-governmental aids organizations around the world. Current U.S. law requires organizations receiving U.S. global HIV/AIDS and anti-trafficking funds to adopt specific organization-wide positions opposing prostitution. Health and human rights organizations are deeply concerned that this restriction will preclude recipients of U.S. funds from using the best practices at their disposal to prevent HIV/AIDS among these populations and to promote the fundamental human rights of all persons. In fact, evidence exists that these restrictions are already undermining promising interventions.
A video was created by the Network of Sex Work Projects on the effects of the pledge and will be shown throughout the rally. http://www.nswp.org/
Who- Sex Workers Outreach Project
What- Rally and showing of "Taking the Pledge" video
When- July 17th 12 NOON
Where- 450 Golden Gate Federal Building
More information on the PEPFAR anti-prostitution loyalty oath here and here.
Loyalty oath??
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't have minded showing them some support, but its now 12:45 and I'm not anywhere close to downtown SF.
ReplyDeleteThe "loyalty oath" regards the fact that organizations that are involved with sex work and trafficking and get funds from US foreign aid groups must sign an oath that they will not support legalization of prostitution. That basically shut a lot of sex-worker rights groups in developing countries and in Eastern Europe out of the funding loop.
This clause was put championed by the usual alliance – "socially concerned" evangelicals and radfems, most notably Melissa Farley.
fuck.
ReplyDeletethat--fuck. that's just GREAT. gahh.
speaking of the evangelical right, btw, y'all might be interested in this
specifically,
rom NY Times
Some people have their midlife crisis in reverse, like Ronald Boyer, who for most of his professional life has been better known as a star of pornographic films, Rod Fontana.
After 30 years of sowing the wildest of oats, Mr. Boyer, 54, has searched his soul and chosen, to the surprise of family and colleagues, to seek a priesthood in the Episcopal Church.
From his work in the rented villas of the San Fernando Valley, where hard-core sex films are shot, he has moved just a short distance west, to the Church of the Epiphany, which is guiding his transformation from pornography star to preacher.
The psychic distance, however, has been vast. In January, the lumbering 6-foot-3 performer was greeting fans on the red carpet of the Adult Video News Awards in Las Vegas, along with the superstars of pornography like Jenna Jameson and Ron Jeremy.
In June, he was carrying the Holy Bible and a text titled “Gospel Light” to a live Internet show where he preached on the relative evils of pornography. “Is pornography a sin?” he asked on the show, which is aimed at people in the sex industry. “Probably. Definitely,” he answered, a response that reflected his own ambivalence as much as a desire not to alienate his audience. “So is eating carrot cake until you’re sick to your stomach,” he continued. “And so is punching somebody in the face. That’s a sin.”...
btw, does Jill B know about this site?
ReplyDeleteWhat site? Bound, Not Gagged? I assumed Jill would know about it. But it never hurts to ask.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Bound, Not Gagged, I vote for adding them to the blogroll! It's an awesome blog.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure Jill knows about Bound, Not Gagged since she's listed as one of the bloggers there. :) I think BD was asking whether Jill knows about PPA. I suppose one of us could drop by Jill's MySpace blog and let her know about it.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of the blogroll – Ren, did you get that list of links I sent out for our blogroll? I don't even know if I'd sent it to an email account that you check very much.
ReplyDeleteI didn't include BNG on the list, since I was being pretty porn-specific, but BNG would be a perfectly fine addition to the roll nonetheless.
not to kibitz, but i s'pose you could have a third category besides "us" and "them," more generally sex/kink/sexwork/etc. positive sites that aren't necessarily about pr0n, but aren't opposed to it and are often in more or less the same boat, because of the same people.
ReplyDelete(i wish Jill had a blog or an lj. as it is, it's hard to read and it's all full of Der Gregor).
ReplyDeleteWe should invite Jill to post here! Even if it's just cross-posting her MySpace blog posts, at least that Gregor thing wouldn't be around.
ReplyDeleteI'm of two minds about expanding this blog into other prostitution- and non-porn sex-work-related topics. I do think the "pro-porn" focus – making this blog specifically about porn (including sex workers who work in porn) gives this blog a certain focus. Not that I don't think prostitution issues aren't closely related. Its just that I think, when looking at prostitution world-wide, its such a large topic, it takes away from that focus.
ReplyDeleteKind of like Trinity, Verte, and BD's BDSM blog – I think its focus on just that topic (something the bloggers know a lot about) is a strength. Same with Bound, Not Gagged.
On the other hand, I can't pretend like each "issue" exists in isolation.
I wasn't necessarily suggesting post about those subjects here, just maybe a blogroll/link exchange? networking is a good thing.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the link exchange part and I think Jill B would be a great co-blogger if this topic it all interests her. Its just that as per the suggestion about cross-posting stuff from Jill's blog – her focus has mainly been on international sex worker's rights, and I think its a bit off-focus to the subject of this blog. Good info there, not unrelated to the topic here, and coming from a similar place politically, but a different area of sex work, nonetheless.
ReplyDeleteIn any event, I just dropped Jill an email about this blog and extended the invitation.
ReplyDeleteIACB, I agree w/ you that it's good for the blog to have a focus. I don't think that precludes any of us from writing about other issues from time to time, when they are related.
ReplyDelete"IACB, I agree w/ you that it's good for the blog to have a focus. I don't think that precludes any of us from writing about other issues from time to time, when they are related."
ReplyDeleteI agree.
christ you people....
ReplyDeleteiacb, no, i didn't get it...
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ReplyDelete