Can you donate a box of condoms for sex workers in Chile?

Maybe you've been reading about the antiprostitution pledge that the US requires international organizations to sign if they want to receive USAID money to help fund their public health programs. Or maybe watched the Taking the Pledge video that I posted here (or perhaps you saw it on the Sex Workers Project web site) and it left you wanting to do something to help. The people at Project Prosper felt the same way when they saw the video and they did decide to do something. They created Pledging Action as a way to raise money and collect condoms that could be sent directly to organizations that help sex workers protect themselves.

And they need more condoms. Can you send them a box of condoms or a cash donation to help them with shipping?

 

Where will the condoms go?

Right now they are working with two organizations in Chile and they hope to expand their effort.

Angela Lina

Angela Lina is named after a sex worker who was killed by a truck driver nearly 20 years ago. It is a national workers’ association, or a labor union. The official name of the organization is “Sindicato Nacional Independiente de trabajadoras Angela Lina”, which would translate to something like “National Independant workers’ labor union Angela Lina”. Still, even though they’re part of a much larger organization, condoms are expensive and increasingly difficult to obtain. There’s also a need for health education for sex workers.

Margen

The name actually means margin because the idea is to work with marginalized people. Their focus is sex workers, particularly the ones who work on the streets. This is a tiny organization even though they reach a lot of sex workers. Their need is particularly great.

Want to know more about "the pledge"? Click here for a great resource list on the Pledging Action blog.

End the Global Gag Rule for Good!

A few days ago JanieBelle wrote about the Senate vote that would end the global gag rule if it isn't vetoed. A veto is a very real possibility, though. And before the President even has a chance to veto the bill, it has to get through a reconciliation conference with the House. NARAL Pro-Choice America is calling for 50,000 people to write to Congress to make sure that the gag rule repeal stays in the bill that goes to the President. That'll also help build a good base to organize an override of the veto if it becomes necessary.

The "global gag rule" essentially prevents any US aid money from going to foreign clinics or organizations that provide information about abortion as an option, or that provide abortions, even if the clinics or agencies use only their own money to provide those services and even f those services are perfectly legal where the agencies are located. Because of this rule, clinics and organizations in poor countries. are bound to either reject US aid, or deny women medical care.

Click here for the NARAL Pro-Choice America call for action, or use the "Speak Out!" link on the left to get contact info for your senators and representatives and let them know what you think.

 

Photo Women's Health Care Clinic, captioned, "Waiting extremely patiently for prenatal care, family planning, and basic OB-GYN services," by Advencap and found on Flickr. Licenced using Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike licence.

 

If you are in NYC on Thursday, please show your support for sex workers in Cambodia.

From the SWANK and SWOP-NYC Listserv and from Melissa Hope Ditmore, Ph.D at Network for Sex Work Projects:

*** CALL TO ACTION *** ***** DISTRIBUTE WIDELY *****

PROTEST HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES OF SEX WORKERS IN CAMBODIA!

1:30 PM AT THE CAMBODIAN MISSION TO THE UN 327 E 50TH STREET NEAR SECOND AVENUE

HLM ATTENDEES LEAVE THE UN CAFÉ AT 1 PM

The Cambodian Government under the influence of the US has passed a law against sex work. Since March, sex workers have been rounded up in raids, arrested, detained, denied medical services, beaten and raped by police. At least three sex workers have died in police custody. Others are being denied life-saving medicines. THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!

Background:

Cambodian sex workers face severe raids from police: Preserving value of women or treat them with respect and dignity?

Each day for the last few weeks the local news has been flashing reports of more raids on sex workers in brothels in different areas in Phnom Penh, and some in the provinces. However, raids on sex workers don't only take place in Phnom Penh but a number of provinces such as Banteay Meanchey, Siem Reap, Kampong Chhang . The news paints a bad image of sex workers being the people who carry immoral behaviors around and destroy Cambodian beautiful values and tradition especially those of the women. The new law and the push from the US government that has driven these raids has a different approach though. It declares sex workers to be trafficked women and victims of sex slavery who want to be rescued from the sex industry. Those who do not, or who put up resistance, are criminalized by the new law as traffickers or as aiding trafficking.

Several sex workers have made clear reports to WNU about their experiences of being raided by the police, raped and held against their will without proper process. The facility in which the women are held is a prison with conditions and routine human rights abuses reminiscent of the Khmer Rouge regime. In reality, not only sex workers are being arrested but also beggars, homeless people, drug users, waste pickers, children who wander around in city at night time, alone or in a way that invites suspicion.

Phnom Penh based sex workers who were raided noticed that even though raids from police on brothel and freelance sex workers on the park has always been happening, the situation become more often and intensive since February 2008. In Phnom Penh, target areas include Wat Phnom, along the river front, on the famous park such as along the independent monument, Psar Chas, and in slum areas where very poor women live.

In the process the police and detention centre guards openly abuse the women. Their money, jewelery, and other valuables such as phones are routinely stolen by the police. Women are being subject to severe physical abuse, beatings and raped by the police. HIV Positive sex workers who are put into the center cannot have the regular ARVs they are required to take everyday. Some women have already fallen ill as a result of the abuses and the violence committed by the security guards. No care or medical treatment has been made available to any women for their injuries or medical conditions.

Some sex workers who are HIV positive have asked for release explaining that they cannot miss their ARV medication when they are in the center but their pleas have not been listened to. To be get out of the center, they have to pay money which is called compensation and promise that they are not to return to their work as sex workers again. These are direct quotes from sex workers who have been raided and put into the center :

"If you have the money with you while you are caught and forced to get on the van, you may manage to bribe the police and get off somewhere but it has to be done secretly. Once you reach the center and locked up in that center, you need to pay a lot more money to get out of it."

"Early March 2008, I was caught while working along the park. They brought me to the center outside of Phnom Penh, a place called Prey Speu center. I was locked up there for three days and only got out when my husband and my mother brought the money to get me out. They had to spend USD150 to get me out. We were forced to sell our hut, which worth 500USD, for USD150 in order to get me out. Now I rent a room for 5000R ( $ 1.50) for myself and my children."

Perhaps most shocking is the fact that almost every sex worker has been raped either by the police or when they are put into the center. If the police that conduct the raid demand sex from the girls and they refuse, they are beaten up and raped by them. Rape by security guards at the detention centre is routine. Some women do not to resist in order to avoid physical pain from the security guards while others, especially the one who being arrested for the first time, are reporting more severe violence and rape. Attempts by the women to get the rapists to use condoms are usually ignored and we can assume that many of the police and guards are HIV and transmitting the virus through these criminal activities.

One sex worker said, "I was put on the van and brought to the center but they told me not to get down when we reached the center. Four of them raped me one after another and then they allowed me to get away from the place. It was really horrible."

"If they asked you question or ask you to do something and you refuse, then you will be brought out and beaten by the security guard. The stick is big and I witnessed with my own eye other sex workers who were seriously beaten and always fainted. It is very cruel and terrible. So I remain silent because I don't want to die; I have my children at home."

Sex workers said they have never been told the reason they have been raided and put into this "detention" center. Police tell them they should not stand in public parks or that will destroy the beauty of Phnom Penh city.

"If they continue to raid on sex workers and we continue to run away, how will we make our living? How can we feed our children? Our work makes us survive from day to day."

This behavior taking place in a government facility makes a mockery of the progressive national HIV prevention program that the Cambodian government boasts they are being implementing through various international and local organizations. Similarly it does not fit well that the Cambodian government is on one hand attempting to bring to justice those who abused human rights during the Khmer Rouge while sanctioning or ignoring similar abuses taking place in the streets of Phnom Penh today.

WNU is calling on those organizations working on Human Rights and on HIV in Cambodia to join us in speaking out against the new law and the abuses that have resulted from it.

WNU and the Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workersdemand that

• STOP THE RAIDS ON SEX WORKERS
• PROVIDE ARV's TO HIV+ SEX WORKERS IMMEDIATELY OR RELEASE THEM.
• STOPS RAPE AND BRING RAPISTS TO JUSTICE
• ENSURE RIGHT TO EMPLOYMENT
• STOP VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
• TREAT CHILDREN, OLD AGED, HIV POSITIVE PEOPLE, AND PREGNANT WOMEN WITH DIGNITY
• STOP EXTORTION BRIBERY AND CORRUPTION IN THE POLICE FORCE
• REPEAL THE TRAFFICKING LAW THAT THE CAMBODIAN GOVERNMENT PASSED ON ORDERS OF THE UNITED STATES

 

Women's Network for Unity Cambodia

Melissa Hope Ditmore, Ph.D. Coordinator Network of Sex Work Projects rights@nswp.org, secretariat@nswp.org

P.O. Box 20853 New York, NY 10009 USA

-------------------------------------------
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Demand Justice for PFC LaVena Johnson

By all accounts, LaVena Johnson was a happy, healthy, strong young woman when she joined the military as a supply specialist.

A few months later she was dead in Iraq, a victim of a non-combat gunshot wound to the head. As bad as the news of the death of their daughter, was the discovery of substantial evidence that she was raped, murdered, and her body twice set afire in a failed attempt to cover up the crimes. The United States Army is refusing to re-open the hitherto lackluster and barely cursory investigation into LaVena's death, and in the face of this mounting evidence, their refusal is beginning to reek of a cover-up.

LaVena's story can be read at LaVenaJohnson.com , and there is an online petition to the Armed Services Committees in Congress that you can sign there to demand that the Army re-open the investigation and actually put some effort into it this time.

Please take a few moments to read LaVena's tragic and compelling story, and ask Congress to hold the Army to the standard which we expect of those in charge of looking out for our women and men in uniform.

Because mastectomy should never be an outpatient procedure!

For at least 10 years Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) has been trying to get legislation passed in Congress that would mandate insurance companies to pay for at least two nights of hospitalization for women having mastectomies. She has introduced her bill, called the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act, five times. Each time it has been consigned to languish in committees.

This year she has agan reintroduced the bill. It is HR 758 this time around, and again it has been assigned to several committees. In fact, here's the list of committees to which it has been referred before action can be taken:

The corresponding Senate bill (S. 459 ) has also been assigned to committees: Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

Lifetime has a petition in support of this legislation and of course I encourage you to sign it. But sometimes petitions are not enough. Clearly this is one of those times. What we need now is a direct call-in, letter-writing, and email campaign.

Use the "Speak Out" box on the left side bar to locate your Senators and Representative. Call them or email them to tell them, very simply, that you don't think that mastectomy should ever be an outpatient or overnight procedure and that insurance companies should not be allowed to override doctors when it comes to providing proper care for a patient.

Mastectomy surgery is major surgery. Women need the kind of care that can best be provided by nurses and doctors in the days immediately following a mastectomy.

These bills will be allowed to expire in committee again, for the fifth time, if we don't loudly draw attention to the issue.

If you do write, I encourage you to leave a copy of your letter as a comment here. That will help others who want to write but aren't sure how to get started.

Contribute to The Foreskin Dialogues!

I began asking people at SexInThePublicSquare.Wordpress.Com to participate in a discussion of male genitals. Specifically, "The Foreskin Dialogues" seeks to get a sense of the range of feelings people have about circumcision. I've now moved this project to the forums here. If you would like to contribute, click here to visit the "Foreskin Dialogues" forum!

Folsom Street Fair needs your help!

An Action Alert from NCSF 

From Viviane's Sex Carnival: Support the Palmer House Hilton, Host for the IML

Viviane Writes: NCSF Action Alert: Support the Palmer House Hilton, Host Hotel for IML

Please write a short note of support for the Palmer House Hilton, host hotel for International Mr. Leather, thanking them for not discriminating against any guests or groups based on their sexual orientation. The anti-gay group, Americans For Truth, posted an action alert calling for people to protest the "homosexual orgies" that take place at the "sadistic sexual perversion-fest known as International Mr. Leather." AFT website: http://tinyurl.com/3atcsg

The Palmer House Hilton has been a staunch supporter of the Fair Accommodations Act in working with alternative lifestyle groups, particularly IML. Please email your note of appreciation to:

Stephen Bollenback, CEO
Hilton Hotels Corporation
stephen_bollenbach@hilton.com

Trina Owens
Hilton Hotels Corporation
trina_owens@hilton.com

Peter Lynn, General Manager
Palmer House Hilton
peter_lynn@hilton.com

###

The National Coalition for Sexual Freedom is a national organization committed to creating a political, legal, and social environment in the United States that advances equal rights of consenting adults who practice forms of alternative sexual expression. NCSF is primarily focused on the rights of consenting adults in the SM-leather-fetish, swing, and polyamory communities, who often face discrimination because of their sexual expression.

National Coalition for Sexual Freedom
822 Guilford Avenue, Box 127
Baltimore, MD 21202-3707
917-848-6544
media at ncsfreedom dot org
www.ncsfreedom.org

Survey of Violence & Discrimination Against Sexual Minorities

September 19, 2007 – New York, NY - Susan Wright and Larry Iannotti would like to announce the launch of the second national Survey of Violence & Discrimination Against Sexual Minorities, being conducted in cooperation with the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom. This survey includes all of the questions asked on NCSF's ground-breaking 1998 Violence & Discrimination Against Sexual Minorities survey, and includes new questions on personal, business, and Internet discrimination experienced by BDSM-leather-fetish practitioners.

The link to the survey is on NCSF's website: www.ncsfreedom.org

Please take a minute to fill out this anonymous survey even if you have not been a victim of violence or discrimination. Demographic data and information about participation in a variety of BDSM-leather-fetish activities are also being gathered. This survey will be distributed for one year, and the results will be released in early 2009.

The results of this survey will be analyzed and compared to the 1998 survey, which found significant discrimination and violence occurring against BDSM-leather-fetish practitioners. The data may be used in court obscenity cases to prove that sexual minorities have been chilled on the Internet because of fear of prosecution. The survey also includes space for individuals to write about the discrimination they have faced, which will be helpful in illustrating the consequences of the negative stereotypes about BDSM-leather-fetish activities.

The survey is available on Survey Monkey (a secured survey hosting website that is used by the professional community) and can be accessed through the NCSF website: www.ncsfreedom.org You can contact surveybdsm@gmail.com to receive hard copies for your event or to distribute to your members.

Please help this community-wide effort by sending this announcement to your email list.

###

Larry Iannotti, LCSW, is a professional social scientist and practicing therapist getting his doctoral degree through the City University of NY. Susan Wright is the Media Spokesperson for NCSF, and is accredited as a research assistant affiliated with CUNY. For more information, please call Susan at 917-848-6544, or Larry at 212-465-1917.

Three Important Sex-related Bills in Congress! Support them now!

There are so many major issues facing our nation these days that it's easy to lose track of them all. Since this is, after all, Sex in the Public Square, I want to remind everyone of three very important sex-related bills that are making their way through congress:

S. 972/H.R. 1653: These two bills go by the apprpriate name: Responsible Education About Life Act (REAL) and would require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to provide funding to states for sex education programs that include information about contraception and disease prevention, and would require the federal government also to evaluate the effectiveness of sex education programs.

S. 1137/H.R. 2097: These bills are called the Teen Pregnancy Prevention, Responsibility and Opportunity Act and would, according to Robert Menendez, one of its sponsors, "establish a comprehensive program for reducing adolescent pregnancy through education and information programs, as well as positive activities and role models both in school and out of school."

S. 1173/H.R. 1964: These are the Freedom Of Choice Act bills and they would legislate a woman's right to an abortion rather than leaving it up to the courts.

Let your representatives in Congress know how important you think these bills are. Use the links to the bills themselves (where you will be offered a chance to type in your zip code and be given access to your legislators), or use the box to the left. And why not write a letter to the editor of your local paper while you're at it? The Speak Out!! box on the left will hook you up with media outlets, too!

NOTE: When you write or email your representatives in Congress you don't need to send a long letter. A short personal note saying that you support a particular bill and explaining, briefly, why it's important to you can make a very meaningful statement!

CLOSED: Tell FOX and CBS that Condom Ads Should Mention Preventing Pregnancy!

Yesterday's New York Times reported that two networks, FOX and CBS, refused to accept Trojan's new condom ad campaign because it explicitly mentions using the condoms to prevent pregnancy. FOX reportedly told Trojan that any ad campaign for contraception needed to put the focus on disease prevention. ABC reportedly told the company that the campaign was just inappropriate, even for their late night viewers.

Both networks ran Trojans previous campaign advertising condoms for HIV prevention.

Mark Crispin Miller, an NYU communications and media expert, is quoted in the Times article pointing out that lots of content on major networks is "salacious" and calles the decision by these two networks "hypocritical."

An email alert from Planned Parenthood Federation of America is more specific:

In 2005, 70 percent of all television shows and 77 percent of prime-time shows contained sexual content. FOX and CBS shows are no exception. From Temptation Island to Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show to The O.C. — a show that broadcasts an average of 6.7 sex scenes an hour — FOX and CBS have taken sex all the way to the bank.

Condom use in the US is not nearly as common as it needs to be. We need strong marketing campaigns that address both the pregnancy prevention and the disease prevention benefits of condom use. This is especially so since so many teenagers are exposed to sex education classes that give them misinformation about the effectiveness of condoms.

CLICK HERE to send a "Prevention First" email from PPFA, telling the CEOs of FOX and CBS that you think their rejection of the Trojan ads is wrong. Then,use the "SPEAK OUT!" media link on the left hand side bar to write a letter to the editor of your local paper -- or of the Times -- to help spread the word.

 

CLOSED :A Moral Imperative: Tell the Senate to Pass the Matthew Shepard Act

UPDATE: CONGRESS MAY ACT ON THIS AS EARLY AS THIS WEEK -- Call your senators now!

From Human Rights Campaign:

Breaking news: the Senate will likely vote on the Matthew Shepard Act as early as this week. And right now, your Senators' phone lines are filling up with messages like this one: "[The Matthew Shepard Act] will be used to fund anti-Christian, pro-homosexual/drag queen materials for children – and divert scarce federal resources away from fighting Islamic terrorism."

Anti-gay groups like the Family Research Council and the Traditional Values Coalition – who invented that ridiculous lie – have mobilized a dangerously misinformed grassroots army. If we don't call right now, critical votes COULD BE LOST to these scare tactics.

Enter your zip code in the Contact Contress button on the left side bar and tell your senator that you support strong hate crimes legislation.

 

Original posting:

I remember where I was when I read online that a young man in Wyoming had been tied to a fence post and beaten nearly to death, then left for dead only to be found 18 hours later, barely alive, and then when I learned within days that he had died. His name was Matthew Shepard and he was killed because some men in a bar felt threatened because they pereived him to be gay.

According to Human Rights Campaign, 1 in 6 hate crimes are committed against people because of their sexual orientation or gender presentation, and 68 percent of people support the addition of sexual orientation and gender identity to federal hate crimes protection categories, yet federal laws so far include no such protetion.

The Matthew Shepard Act is about to come up for a vote in the US Senate. It passed already in the House of Representatives. It would add sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of hate crimes categories.

Click here and watch a short, and very powerful video about why this legislation is important, and then sign the petition telling your senators that attacking someone because of sexual orientation or gender identity should be considered a hate crime, just as attacking a person because of their race or religion.

Click here to listen to a clip incredibly evocative song about Matthew Shepard by one of my favorite New York area bands. (I'ts only a clip, and I'm not sharing it with you so you'll buy the music, but instead because emotion is so often the motivating force behind action that I'm trying to influence your emotions, shamelessly, with powerful visual and aural imagery!)

Don't want to watch a video (even though it uses Cyndi Lauper's "All through the night" or listen to Nekked's "Sleeping with the lights on"? Just click here to sign the petition and make sure your Senator knows that you think ti's wrong to attack people because they appear to be anything other than a heterosexual man or woman.

"Until it ends, there is no end." (All through the night, by Cyndi Lauper)

And we need to end it, now.

CLOSED: Ask Time Magazine to correct false info on EC

In this Time Magazine article about the pro-choice movement in Mexico, and about anti-abortion politics in Latin America more generally, the author describes Emergency Contraception as “abortion inducing.”

Underground abortions are one of the leading causes of maternal mortality in Chile. Although Chile has one of South America’s strictest anti-abortion codes, it’s estimated to have twice as many abortions each year (200,000) as Canada — a country with twice Chile’s population. (Abortion is legal in Canada.) As a result, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, a socialist, late last year sanctioned the free distribution of abortion-inducing “morning-after” contraception pills at government-run hospitals. (Emphasis mine.)

This is a major problem. Not only is it inaccurate, but to describe emergency contraception as an abortion-inducing pill is to greatly reduce its chances of acceptance by people who oppose abortion, and increase the stigma attached to its use. Click here and then on the author’s name (small print, left side, just below the title) to send an email to the editor! Ask them to issue a correction ASAP

CLOSED: Live-blog response to Melissa Farley, Bob Herbert and the Mainstream Media bias against sex work

You know we've been challenging the Bob Herbert/Melissa Farley stories here, so I'm glad to be able to tell you about a "blog-in " over at Bound, Not Gagged where sex workers and their allies can respond to the mainstream media's reliance on distorted research on prostitution, its conflation of sex work and human trafficking, and it's reflexively anti-sex work bias. Thanks to Iamcuriousblue, of the Blog for Pro-porn Activism, who let us know about this in the comments on my Bob Herbert post.

Call to Action!!! ***Please circulate widely***

Who: Desiree Alliance and Friends

What: Live-blog response to Farley

When: September 17, 2007 Beginning at 3pm PST 6pm EST and going all night

Where: http://www.BoundNotGagged.com

Why: The mainstream media (msm) buys Farley's point of view without any care or concern for those who actually work in the sex industry. BNG is where sex workers go to respond to the media blackout that distorts and ignores our voices. We will put an end to Farley's lies!

Are you tired of 'researchers' like Melissa Farley using lies and manipulation to demon-ize your work? Are you sick of reading article after article written by journalists who go for all of her sensation without digging deeper for the REAL stories of people working in the sex industry?

Now is your chance to speak out! BoundNotGagged. com is hosting a live-blog event Monday, September 17^th, 2007. Articles and blogs about Farley's recent visit to Las Vegas will be linked to the blog. These links are also available below. This blog event is an opportunity for sex workers and our allies to respond to the lies and hypocrisy that have dominated this debate! Please take a few moments this weekend to prepare a post that you can put up on the blog, respond to other posts and make comments out in the public arenas.

All sex worker comments and stories are welcome! Some angles that would be especially helpful are: critiques of Farley's research from experts (however one defines oneself as so,) stories from workers who have participated in Farley's research, stories of Farley's abuse and manipulation of international allies when researching in other countries, summaries and links to credible research, experiences from workers in Nevada, community-based peer research experiences, etc. Ideas for topics are below if you need a little inspiration, but please feel free to post anything you feel is relevant.

Current material is also on the site relating to Palfrey, Sen. Vitter, Larry Flynt and the on-going DC-Madam circus. Please respond and comment to some of those articles as well!

Details about how you can contribute are below!

From workers and allies we need:

1.) An RSVP (for the sake of ensuring that you have access to the blog in
advance) Just send me a note from the email address that you prefer to use that says "I want to blog on Monday at: (whatever time you can do it)" email: Stacey@DesireeAlliance.org

2.) Prepare (in advance if you can) one post that is your personal
reflections, experiences, opinions, concerns, etc relevant or related to any
of this news (since we've been attacked on so many levels, there are a
number of angles to take on this!) ***Please sign your handle name at the
bottom or top of your post. For some reason when there are multiple
contributors, wordpress doesn't do it for us.***

3.) Hang out at the blog for a couple of hours reading and responding to
news articles and other people's posts.

4.) Spend some time commenting on other blogs or at news sites (links below)

5.) Link to your personal blogs from BoundNotGagged (if I figure out how the blog roll works I will get you hooked up that way, I will be spending the weekend figuring out how things work!)

Topics/Issues that may come up (there are tons more, just to get the wheels
turning):

A proper spanking for Bob Herbert

Farley's flawed research practices (especially highlighting the way that she
lies and manipulates to gain access)

Point to reliable research (especially Barb and Kate who are the real
experts for years living in the actual region.)

Oscar Goodman (ugh, that could go in many different directions)

Voices from women in Las Vegas (non-workers) Do you feel degraded just
because you are a woman in LV?

Underage prostitution- the real concerns, the real solutions

Challenging the 'trafficking' connection (can a woman of legal citizenship
be trafficked from a small town in another state into LV? Much much more)

Are the rates of sexual assault in NV truly higher than in any other state?
Could this be because the state exists so that people can come and get
intoxicated, lowering their reasoning and better judgment? Alcohol is served
24hours. It seems to me that the sw's have more clear boundaries than most
of the vacationers who are there to party)

John Miller- Farley paid by Feds in a biased ANTI-woman administration

Articles (all text available here):

Nevada Coalition Against Trafficking
Former Prostitutes Wage War Against Prostitution
Prostitution in Nevada Panel Discussion Held at UNLV

Bob Herbert:

(Below are multiple free online sources of the article "City As Predator," by Bob Herbert, originally published in the New York Times on September 4, 2007 -- Chris Hall, Sex in the Public Square)

Behind the Times
Green Pagan
Free Democracy
Akron Beacon Journal
Pasadena Star News
Franklin Now
Free Republic
Megan Edwards: Adventures in Vegasland (Commentary on "City as Predator")
Bob Herbert on "Times Select" Pay Service

Barb Brents and Kate Hausbeck:

Face to Face (4-part newscast)
**When you click on link above, pay particular attention to "Demeaning City?":
Outlaw industry, ex-prostitutes say: Researcher spotlights human trafficking

Defending/Attacking Las Vegas and Nevada:

And it won't get you tossed from the Senate either... (Las Vegas Gleaner)
Vegas the epicenter of North American prostitution? (KVBC, Channel 3)
Jeff Simpson on the recent attention to the local sex trade (Las Vegas Sun)
Reaction to Bob Herbert's columns (Vegas Pundit)
I guess Bob Herbert didn't take Oscar's baseball bat threat too seriously (LasVegasVegas.com -- Reprints Herbert's Sept. 8 column, "Escape From Las Vegas.")
New book: brothels as concentration camps? (Reno Gazette-Journal)

Defending sex workers:

Another Irresponsible Piece on Sex Work (Sex in the Public Square)

Prostitution/Trafficking/Goodman/Debates:

Let's talk about prostitution (CityLife)
Las Vegas mayor threatens to murder N.Y. Times columnist after anti-sex-trade column (Shakesville)
Consenting Adults and a Conservative-Liberal-Libertarian Split (Ex Post)
Panel: Brothels aid sex trafficking (Pahrump Valley Times)
Prostitution (Vice Squad)
Is Las Vegas really so bad? Column saying it's the city most degrading to women sparks varied reactions (Abigail Goldman, Las Vegas Sun)
Are rampant gambling, prostitution part of the image Las Vegans want to create? (Jon Ralston, Las Vegas Sun)
Mayor's leadership is ahead of its time (Letter to the Editor, Las Vegas Sun)
Book exposes harsh reality of Nevada prostitution (Taipei Times reprint of review from London Guardian)
Mayor's remarks not helping Vegas at all (Letter to the Editor, Las Vegas Sun)
The town pickled herring (Las Vegas Gleaner)
How Goodman views women is on display (Letter to the Editor, Las Vegas Sun

Links transformed courtesy of our HTML/CSS god, Chris Hall

Photo of London Sex Workers Unite protest by Emma Campbell on Flickr

CLOSED: Reminder! Last day to tell the House that private info on adult social sites should remain private!

Lolita posted last week about HR 4472, which would extend the 2257 record keeping requirements to adult social networking sites. (Very very briefly, 2257 regs are the ones that porn makers and distributors have to keep to demonstrate that models are all 18+.)

 

Extending those regulations to adult social networking sites would need to keep a photocopy of your drivers licence if you uploaded an explicit photo of yourself for your profile. As Lolita wrote initially:

"The federal government is proposing regulations that would effectively kill adult social-networking sites. This is being done under the guise of fighting child pornography. The proposed regulations would force adult social-networking services to obtain and maintain personal information about their users, including the user's photo ID (driver’s license, passport, or military ID). While this activism is being done by the NGLTF, it affects heterosexuals, too, both kinky and vanilla."

And here's the link to the National Gay and Lesbian Taskforce call for action.

 

Public comment on the extension of those regulations to adult social networking sites ends today, so if you haven't weighed in on the matter, please do.

 

Comments may be submitted electronically to: Admin.ceos@usdoj.gov or to http://www.regulations.gov by using the electronic comment form provided. The subject line must read: Docket No. CRM 104.

 

Facsimile comments may be submitted to: (202) 514-1793. This is not a toll-free number. Comments submitted by facsimile must include Docket No. CRM 104 on the cover sheet.

 

(Thanks to Viviane for posting the contact info and instructions.)

 

CLOSED: Submit a question for the first ever LGBT-oriented Presidential debate!

So it seems that "new media" users and activists are spurring challenges to the way we think about presidential campaigns. We've had the YouTube/CNN debate, and now we're gearing up for the HRC/Logo debate. While neither HRC nor Logo are "new media" entities, they want to use the democratizing force of the Internet by inviting you to submit questions that will be asked by HRC president Joe Solmonese, singer Melissa Etheridge, and journalist Jonathan Capeheart.

Issues that uniquely affect the lives of LGBT citizens are often neglected in presidential politics. Do you have a question you'd like the candidates to address? Is there an issue you think has been left out of the traditional debate scheme too often?

Click here to submit your question. Ask them about the Mathew Shepard Act. Ask them why civil rights for LGBT citizens differ from state to state. Ask them about Don't Ask Don't Tell. Ask them about discrimination in housing, medical care, and employment. Ask them anything that matters to you!

Then, watch the debate on August 9 at 9pm Eastern on Logo or on the Logo web site .

CLOSED: Support Sex Ed in NYC Schools! (Closes Sept. 1 2007)

All politics starts locally, and since Chris and I are both based in NYC, some of our calls for action are directly related to politics in New York. Let us know what's going on in your part of the world, too!

From Planned Parenthood NYC:

Ninety-four percent of U.S. parents believe students should get sex education in schools. Unfortunately, that is not what's currently happening.

Speak up! Call the City of New York and tell them we need sex education in our schools.

It's easy and it will only take 2 minutes:

Step 1: Dial 311 (The call is free!)
Step 2: Ask to make a suggestion to the Department of Education.
Step 3: Tell the operator that you believe students should get sex education every year in the public schools. Tell them sex education should be required for all kids.
Step 4: They will ask you for your contact information. You can leave your name and address or you can ask to be anonymous.
Your suggestion will go to the Department of Education and a report of 311 calls is sent to the Mayor and the City Council. Speak up and make your voice heard!

For more info: Click here for a great PDF fact sheet on the importance of comprehensive sex ed.

If you do this, please leave a commenta and tell us how it went!

(Action closes on Sept. 1, 2007)

CLOSED: The feds want to shut down adult social-networking sites and invade your privacy!