Vermont news

August 24, 2022 Montpelier has become the second city in Vermont to repeal its antiquated prostitution ordinance in the past year. Last summer, the Burlington City Council voted to repeal that city’s prostitution ordinance and voters subsequently chose to strike discriminatory and archaic language on sex work from the city...

June 8, 2022 Vermont Governor Phil Scott signed H.746, An act relating to an amendment to the charter of the City of Burlington, striking harmful language from the city’s charter. In March, 69% of Burlington residents voted to support equity, safety, and dignity by opting to remove the discriminatory language...

May 10, 2022 The Vermont Senate voted to pass Burlington’s charter change, striking harmful language from the city charter. In March, 69% of Burlington residents voted to support equity, safety, and dignity by opting to remove the archaic language from the charter, which mandates that peace officers “restrain and suppress...

March 1, 2022 Burlington voters overwhelmingly chose to remove archaic and discriminatory language from their city charter. The current charter mandates that Burlington “restrain and suppress houses of ill fame and disorderly houses, and to punish common prostitutes and persons consorting therewith.” The question of whether to remove the language...

January 1, 2022 Bills to decriminalize sex work are being considered in New York (S3075/A849), Massachusetts (H1867), Vermont (H630), and Missouri (H2388). Several other pieces of legislation to improve the health, safety, and human rights of sex workers and related communities have been introduced around the country. Massachusetts also saw...

December 13, 2021 In a historic move, the Burlington, VT City Council unanimously supported a resolution to remove harmful, stigmatizing, and archaic language around prostitution from its city charter. Burlington voters will now have the opportunity to vote on the measure in March. The formal process to amend the charter...

Sex workers in Vermont discuss why they are seeking decriminalization (December 1, 2021) DSW’s J. Leigh Oshiro-Brantly is quoted: “We have to separate adult consensual prostitution from [human] trafficking so that we can actually begin to go after traffickers in a more robust way.”

January 3, 2020 A group of VT lawmakers introduced two historic bills for sex workers’ rights. The first bill, HB 569, would repeal current statutes that prohibit sex work. If passed, the bill would remove criminal penalties for consensual, adult prostitution in the state. Human trafficking—or any other form of...