Dear Friend,

We’ve had a huge victory in Washington D.C.! 

The bill under consideration by the Council of the District of Columbia to fully decriminalize the commercial sex trade (including acts of pimping, sex buying, and brothel keeping) “will not move forward” according to Charles Allen, chair of the DC Council Judiciary Committee, quoted Sunday in The Washington Post.

We met with council members, staff, the mayor’s office, and other DC officials to inform and educate them on how the data and research show that sex trafficking and exploitation increase exponentially wherever the sex trade is normalized.

We then helped mobilize opposition to the problematic bill at a decisive public hearing on October 17. As a result, Councilmember Anita Bonds, a bill cosponsor, told NPR she could no longer support decriminalizing sex buying based on opponents’ arguments.

Four NCOSE staff members testified against full decriminalization at the public hearing based on their subject matter expertise. Additionally, we created and provided unifying graphics (#ProtectSurvivorsNotBuyers; #FullDecrimHurtsEveryone); flew in a Reno-based expert on exploitation in Nevada’s legal brothel system; and brought to the hearing two teen-age survivors of sex trafficking in DC who have been relocated to another city.

“DC should shrink the sex trade not legitimize it,” said NCOSE president Patrick Trueman. “Full decriminalization would endanger D.C.’s most vulnerable citizens while turning the city into a magnet for sex tourism and sex trafficking.”

This critical matter will very likely come up again before the DC Council, but NCOSE and allies in the movement will continue to fight for the protection of sexually exploited people.

Your advocacy and support are so crucial for victories such as this one, and we are so grateful to count you as an ally in this work.