It's a new year and while white, nationalist violence and the undeniable disparities in policing has captured our attention once again, we know that the year will hold countless possibilities for growth and change. One of our major goals for 2021 is to DECRIMINALIZE SEX WORK!

While we’ve been advocating to end the criminalization of
sex work for over 30 years, there is now a bill
sponsored by Rep. Mandie Landry to repeal certain prostitution-related offenses in Louisiana.

In 2019, we began collaborating with Rep. Landry and Andrea Ritchie, building off our collective work on the NO Justice campaign, to draft legislation that would repeal sex work-related offenses. LA HB 366 was introduced and referred to the Committee on Administration of Criminal Justice in March 2020, but was paused due to COVID-19.
It will be reintroduced with a new bill number in the upcoming legislative session, Spring 2021.
In this time, WWAV has been working with an advisory committee of stakeholders, whose lives and livelihoods will be impacted by this legislation, to develop a toolkit that outlines what sex work is and who is harmed by its criminalization.
 
Our call to decriminalize sex work in Louisiana builds off of the research done by public health and human rights organizations, including the World Health Organization, Amnesty International, the ACLU and the Movement for Black Lives, that call for the decriminalization of sex work. We know that the decriminalization of sex work is a racial justice and human rights issue due to who is policed and prosecuted. It is an economic justice and labor rights issue due to failures in Louisiana to institute a living wage, gender pay equity and put an end to discriminatory employment practices.
We know that systemic injustices, in addition to the harms of criminalization, leave sex workers vulnerable to coercion from sex traffickers and at an increased risk of violence.
Sex workers, like any other workers, deserve the right to labor free of violence and with equal protections under the law.

We want to show our legislators and community members that, overwhelmingly, organizations and individuals across our state support repealing criminal charges for prostitution-related offenses, such as those stated in LA HB 366.
If you or your organization would like to sign on in support of ending the criminalization of consensual sex work, please click the link below.
If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to us and our Directors of Programming, Lakeesha Harris and Christine Lobre, will be available to respond.


In solidarity,
Women With A Vision