Staff Highlights

June 13, 2022 DSW Research and Project Manager J. Leigh Oshiro-Brantly presented on the intersection of LGBTQIA individuals and sex workers’ rights at the June 13 meeting of a legislative study commission in Rhode Island. Oshiro-Brantly...

May 2, 2022 Throughout the month of May, DSW staff participated in a number of panels and discussions highlighting the harms of criminalization, pending legislation on sex work, and reminding sex workers of their rights!...

April 25, 2022 DSW Legal Director Melissa Broudo presented on the differences and distinctions between human trafficking and consensual adult sex work at the April 25 meeting of a legislative study commission in Rhode Island....

April 5, 2022 DSW’s legal director, Melissa Broudo, and staff attorney, Rebecca Cleary, traveled to Rhode Island to testify in support of three important bills making their way through the Rhode Island Legislature. As DSW...

DSW Staff Attorney Rebecca Cleary and Legal Director Melissa Broudo provided background to the producers of HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and the resulting 25-minute segment on sex work, which aired on February...

February 8, 2022 DSW’s Melissa Broudo is featured on today’s edition of The Capitol Pressroom podcast.

DSW Research and Project Manager J. Leigh Oshiro-Brantly co-authored and participated in all aspects of the study “What will we do if we get infected?” a qualitative interview-based study of the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects...

DSW Community Engagement Consultant Joaquin Remora participated in Beyond Sex Work Decriminalization: Possibilities and Priorities for Marginalized Sex Workers, a panel discussion by the Oregon Sex Workers’ Committee (OSWC) presented by Woodhull’s Human Rights Commissions (December 7,...

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...

October 26: APHA’s Annual Meeting DSW’s J. Leigh Oshiro-Brantly, Melissa Broudo, and Frances Steele attended the American Public Health Association’s Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado, and presented on the role of sex work decriminalization in...

September 7, 2021 In the latest episode of The Frontier Psychiatrists entitled ‘OnlyBans?’, hosts Dr. Carlene MacMillan and Dr. Owen Muir explore the impact of Sex Negativity online. The episode focuses on OnlyFans’ since reversed decision to...

July 21: NACDL J. Leigh Oshiro-Brantly and Rebecca Cleary of DSW attended the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) annual meeting. The event brings together criminal justice system advocates, impacted community members, and defense...

July 2, 2021 Paving the Path to Decriminalization in Oregon and Beyond (July 2, 2021) DSW’s Melissa Broudo is quoted: “We truly are sitting at the precipice of significant legislative change on a national level [for]...

June 27, 2021 The New York City Pride Parade, one of the most famous celebrations of Pride Month and historically the largest parade in the world, canceled its in-person festivities last year due to the...

June 17, 2021 DSW’s J. Leigh Oshiro-Brantly, Melissa Broudo and Ceyenne Doroshow are featured in “Sex Work is Work,” a powerful short-film that explores the push for the decriminalization of sex work. Produced by BRIC...

June 1, 2021 Each of the panels presented as part of Tulsa 100: Remember, Activate, Heal was impactful, educational, and transformative. If you missed them or want to rewatch them, they are available at the...

DSW’s Frances Steele is quoted: “Even well-intended laws can get in the way. Frances Steele, a Wash.U. alum who is now a project coordinator for Decriminalize Sex Work, points out that in many states, possession...

May 5, 2021 DSW’s Ariela Moscowitz is featured in episode 1 and episode 6 of the Babble On podcast.

DSW’s Ariela Moscowitz is quoted: “Human trafficking occurs across all labor sectors and is a horrific crime,” said Ariela Moscowitz, director of communications at Decriminalize Sex Work, an organization that works to improve public attitudes...

April 28, 2021 New York Transgender Advocacy Group (NYTAG) hosted their annual advocacy day on April 28. The full day of programming included appearances from elected officials, a conversation with former New York City Council candidate...

DSW’s Ariela Moscowitz is quoted: “We’re always pushing sex work to be seen as work … and to improve the health and safety of sex workers and communities at large. We know full decriminalization leads...

April 6, 2021 Episode 9–Pandemic Sexposure (“New York Gritty” podcast) (available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Amazon) DSW’s Melissa Broudo is featured.

DSW’s Melissa Broudo is featured: “This is not just symbolic. It is meaningful for those over 857 people whose lives were directly impacted by criminalization who either had warrants hanging over their heads or pending...

January 9, 2021 PornHub invited DSW’s legal director, Melissa Broudo, to share her expertise on legal issues related to sex work in their two-day “Sex Worker Survival Guide.” The event brought together a diverse group...

October 15, 2020 Ariela Moscowitz is joining DSW as the director of communications. We are thrilled to welcome an incredible nonprofit professional with years of experience advocating for social equity on behalf of marginalized communities...

October 15, 2020 DSW’s J. Leigh Brantly and Melissa Broudo spoke on a panel entitled “Fighting for Decriminalization in the Era of COVID and Black Lives Matter” at the Woodhull Freedom Foundation’s (WFF) 11th annual...

October 5, 2020 DSW’s Kaytlin Bailey will be departing the organization at the end of the month to more directly focus her energy on her burgeoning production company, Old Pro Productions, Inc., which aims to...

October 2, 2020 DSW’s Melissa Broudo received the Lou Sullivan Award from the National Trans Visibility March (NTVM) for her outstanding commitment to defending the rights of transgender and gender nonconforming (TGNC) individuals and communities...

September 22, 2020 DSW partnered with The Ishtar Collective (TIC), a local sex worker rights organization in VT, to host a luncheon in Montpelier that brought together state legislators, advocates, sex workers, and trafficking survivors...

September 1, 2020 In 1996, the Lusty Lady in San Francisco became the first strip club in the country to successfully unionize, making history for the entire informal labor sector, including sex work. Despite the...

August 18, 2020 DSW’s Melissa Broudo was featured in “As a Woman,” an interview-based film series diving into the lives of six inspirational, female-identifying New Yorkers. Written and produced by Majella Productions, the documentary explores...

August 1, 2020 More than six hundred activists, community members, and allies, including DSW’s Ceyenne Doroshow and Frances Steele, filled Manhattan’s Times Square on a Saturday at 5 p.m. The crowd gathered for the Black...

July 22, 2020 In our last newsletter, DSW reported on how the EARN IT Act, a bill that recently advanced out of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, threatens the very heart of online security and...

July 21, 2020 The Cape Cod, MA, chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America asked DSW’s Kaytlin Bailey to present on police reform, accountability, and gendered violence from a sex worker’s perspective. The talk started...

July 14, 2020 DSW’s Melissa Broudo and Frances Steele attended a rally in New York City supporting five state-level criminal justice reform bills that will be voted on — and hopefully passed — this legislative...

June 29, 2020 DSW consultant, cornerstone figure of the transgender, nonconforming, nonbinary rights movement, and founder of Gays and Lesbians Living In a Transgender Society (G.L.I.T.S.), Ceyenne Doroshow set out to raise a million dollars to...

June 2020 Black people nationwide continue to be harassed and murdered by law enforcement, with little to no consequences. We know that this systemic disregard for Black lives is neither new nor accidental, but rather...

June 14, 2020 DSW’s Hero of the Month for June is Ceyenne Doroshow — activist, organizer, and a cornerstone of the international sex worker and transgender, gender-nonconforming, nonbinary (TGNCNB) rights movements. Ceyenne, a Black transwoman,...

June 9, 2020 A new sex worker rights organization was co-founded in VT by J. Leigh Brantly of DSW, along with local human rights advocate Henri. The Ishtar Collective is the first-ever anti-trafficking and sex-worker-rights...

June 2, 2020 The 45th annual celebration of International Whore’s Day (IWD) departed from the usual, where sex workers and their allies don red attire and march through city streets across the country. This year,...

May 22, 2020 An opinion piece by DSW’s Kaytlin Bailey was published in the New Hampshire Union Leader in response to an opponent’s op-ed published days before. The original opinion piece was written by Jasmine...

May 14, 2020 DSW’s J. Leigh Brantly was a guest on the Crooked Media podcast “Six Feet Apart with Alex Wagner,” discussing sex work amidst the pandemic. “Six Feet Apart” is a weekly show that...

May 7, 2020 DSW participated in Equality New York’s LGBTQI Virtual Day of Action. Community experts led panels and webinars on the movement’s policy priorities for this legislative session to improve the lives of LGBTQI...

April 25, 2020 DSW’s Melissa Broudo and J. Leigh Brantly were featured in the latest edition of New Pride Agenda’s virtual town-hall series, titled “Let’s Talk Sex & Sex Work.” The webinar brought together activists,...

April 21, 2020 The New York State legislature is following social distancing protocol, and advocacy groups have organized virtual lobbying meetings to continue their activism. Through their work with the New York Gender Diversity Coalition...

March 8, 2020 The International Women’s Strike, also known as Paro Internacional de Mujeres, is a global movement of coalitions in more than 50 countries, organizing around International Women’s Day each year. The movement began...

March 3, 2020 On International Sex Worker Rights Day, the Walking While Trans Coalition gathered at the Million Dollar Staircase in the Albany Statehouse to speak out about trans rights in New York state. DSW’s...

March 3, 2020 Sex workers and allied communities celebrated International Sex Worker Rights Day, a holiday that commemorates the tireless efforts of harm-reduction advocates around the world. The holiday began in India in 2001 when...

February 13, 2020 DSW’s Kaytlin Bailey sat down with the African Sex Workers Alliance (ASWA) at its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. ASWA is a Pan-African alliance of sex worker-led organizations. The group was formed in...

January 24, 2020 The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that plaintiffs in the Woodhull Freedom Foundation’s (WFF’s) lawsuit against the United States have standing to pursue claims. This decision guarantees sex-worker-rights...

January 22-25, 2020 DSW attended the Adult Video News (AVN) Awards Conference in Las Vegas. At this annual expo, meet-and-greet, and awards show, members of the adult entertainment industry exhibit their latest work, newest products,...

January 1, 2020 This month marks Decriminalize Sex Work’s first full calendar year as a national advocacy organization. It is hard to believe how fast it has gone! Since DSW’s founding in the spring of...

DSW’s Kaytlin Bailey is featured. “Sex work [is] only legal in parts of Nevada, and there it is highly restricted. What are some of the other models for legal sex work, and which models best...

December 18, 2019 DSW’s Melissa Broudo and J. Leigh Brantly participated in the NY Transgender Advocacy Group’s LGBTQI Winter Cocktail Policy Series. Melissa and J spoke on a panel entitled “Reclaiming Our Bodies,” the first...

December 17, 2019 DSW joined sex-worker-rights activists around the world in honoring the International Day To End Violence Against Sex Workers, which takes place annually on December 17. This holiday mourns the lives of far...

December 4-6, 2019 Kaytlin Bailey shared DSW’s work at the American Legislative Exchange Council’s (ALEC’s) Annual Policy Summit in Scottsdale, Arizona. ALEC is the largest voluntary membership organization of state legislators and private-sector representatives in...

December 1, 2019 DSW has gained two invaluable colleagues. Ceyenne Doroshow and J. Leigh Brantly will be joining the organization as Community Engagement Consultant and Research and Project Manager, respectively. Ceyenne Doroshow is an author,...

DSW’s Kaytlin Bailey is featured. “Chip talks to Kaytlin Bailey of Decriminalize Sex Work about why sex workers should not be prosecuted.”

DSW’s Kaytlin Bailey is featured: “Mike tells Sarah how NGOs, activists and George W. Bush resurrected the ‘stranger danger’ panic for the modern era. Digressions include Reply All, muffins and Yelp for massage parlors. Mike’s...

November 20-22, 2019 DSW attended the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers’ (NACDL’s) 2019 Defending Sex Crimes Seminar, an annual event that brings together defense attorneys and criminal justice reform advocates. NACDL is an opportunity for...

November 6, 2019 Melissa Broudo joined fellow activists and attorneys for a panel discussion on the whats, whys, and hows of sex-work decriminalization. The panel was organized by the NYU Law School chapter of If/When/How—Lawyering...

November 2, 2019 DSW grantee COYOTE-RI (Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics) hosted a coalition meeting with human-rights activists in Providence, RI. DSW’s Melissa Broudo met with local organizations that are working to improve the...

November 2-6, 2019 DSW highlighted the public-health implications of decriminalizing sex work at the American Public Health Association’s (APHA’s) annual international conference in Philadelphia. Attendees conduct harm-prevention research on STI prevention, drug use, the environment,...

October 17, 2019 The District of Columbia City Council held a hearing on the Community Safety and Health Act of 2019 (Bill 23-0318), which would decriminalize sex work in the nation’s capital. This would-be historic...

DSW’s Kaytlin Bailey is quoted: “To pretend that this is what the entire porn industry is like denigrates exactly the people that they claim to be speaking for,” Kaytlin Bailey, communications director for advocacy group...

October 4, 2019 The New York State Gender Diversity Coalition convened at the Brooklyn Night Bazaar to exchange ideas about how to support gender diversity, equality, and sex worker rights in New York. This new...

September 20, 2019 Earlier this year, DSW filed an amicus brief in support of the lawsuit brought against the U.S. government by the Woodhull Freedom Foundation (WFF), Human Rights Watch, The Internet Archive, and two other...

September 19: DSW’s Kaytlin Bailey was invited onto Newsmax TV with John Tobacco and Frank Morano to chat about sex work, Robert Kraft, and why handcuffs almost never help. September 22: Kaytlin Bailey appeared on “Morano...

September 5, 2019 DSW attended the International Human Trafficking and Social Justice Conference in Toledo, Ohio. The conference has been an annual event since 2004, bringing together researchers, survivors, allies, and service practitioners to exchange...

August 18, 2019 DSW’s Kaytlin Bailey attended the 10th annual Woodhull’s Sexual Freedom Summit hosted in Washington, DC. She connected to sex worker rights activists and sexual freedom advocates from all over the country. Attending...

August 6-8, 2019 Melissa Broudo, DSW’s general council and RI coordinator, and Kaytlin Bailey, DSW’s communications director, met with state legislators from all over the country at the National Conference of State Legislatures annual meeting,...

July 31, 2019 DSW’s Kaytlin Bailey participated in Nevertheless She Existed, a live show and podcast produced at Caveat Theater. She told the story of Phryne, a famous courtesan in the classical Greek period who...

DSW’s Kaytlin Bailey is quoted: "You have violence, you have exploitation, and you have blackmail. You have people operating outside the law, because legal protections are not extended to the entire industry."

June 30, 2019 DSW attended the Queer Liberation March and political rally that followed on June 30, organized by the Reclaim Pride Coalition to commemorate the 50-year anniversary of the Stonewall riots. The march took...

June 2, 2019 DSW co-sponsored the St. James Infirmary 20th Anniversary Gala held on June 2. Kaytlin Bailey celebrated their incredible work in San Francisco along with hundreds of donors, activists, service providers, and celebrity...

June 1, 2019 DSW’s Kaytlin Bailey and Melissa Broudo attended this year’s Law and Society Association Conference in Washington, D.C. Bailey attended an incredible meeting hosted by National Ugly Mugs, a peer-based group in the...

May 14, 2019 DSW’s Kaytlin Bailey made an appearance on John Stossel’s show to draw attention to what multiple agencies in Florida called a “rescue operation.” All of the women law enforcement claims to have...

May 2, 2019 DSW hosted a delightful evening that was both a celebration and a rallying cry at the Cornell Club in NYC. With exquisite performances by Essence Revealed and sweet jams by DJ Mikey...

April 30, 2019 After months of planning and inviting an all-star cast of witnesses, DSW had its first hearing before the House Judiciary Committee of the Rhode Island Legislature. State Rep. Anastasia Williams (D) presented...

April 27, 2019 Multiple police departments in Florida have recently staged news conferences to cast themselves as heroes who have “rescued” women from “slavery” … by handcuffing them.  Devastating stings that result in criminal records...

April 22, 2019 All eyes are on Florida because of the high-profile stings on massage parlors. DSW teamed up with sex workers and allies in Florida to draw attention to what criminalizing sex work actually...

March 14, 2019 DSW teamed up with COYOTE RI and allied organizations to educate RI legislators about the negative impact of criminalizing prostitution. DSW’s lobbyists and local RI advocates engaged legislators in one-on-one conversations on...

March 11, 2019 DSW teamed up with Alex Andrews from SWOP Behind Bars, Dan Savage, Larry Walters, and River del Llano from Uncage Love to discuss the dangerous implications of SESTA/‍FOSTA at a panel at...

March 11, 2019 DSW hosted in Austin a soiree with Dan Savage, donors, local activists, and panelists, where advocates for decriminalization shared strategies and stories. Libertarians, progressives, harm reduction advocates, anarchists and provocateurs mingled despite...

March 2, 2019 DSW hosted a panel at the Seattle Annual Sex Worker Summit after the debut of the documentary “War on Whores,” which investigates the harms of criminalizing sex work. The film features prolific...

March 1, 2019 Here is DSW’s Melissa Broudo with COYOTE Rhode Island organizer Bella Robinson. We're looking forward to being in Rhode Island this Thursday for another lobby day!

February 20, 2019 DSW drafted and submitted to a federal CA court a spirited amicus brief that challenges the constitutionality of the devastating SESTA/FOSTA law. This “friend of the court” brief was cosigned by an...

December 21, 2018 DSW’s Melissa Broudo got to meet and greet Erika Jayne, one of DSW’s VIPs, when she recently played in Brooklyn, NY, on December 21, 2018. Broudo was able to thank her for...

October 1, 2018 DSW’s Melissa Broudo joined providers from Legal Aid Society and Brooklyn Defender Services on a panel on representing sex workers at the Harm Reduction Coalition.

October 1, 2018 DSW’s Melissa Broudo and Crystal DeBoise visited Concord, NH, in October 2018 to engage in a series of key meetings to lay the groundwork for legislation.

August 24, 2018 DSW’s Kaytlin Bailey led one of the first sex worker canvasses going door to door talking about decriminalization.

August 24, 2018 DSW’s Kaytlin Bailey talks to voters on behalf of Julia Salazar, who is one of the first politicians to run (and win) openly supporting sex worker rights.

June 2018 DSW’s Melissa Broudo participated in a panel discussing federal legislation SESTA/‍FOSTA and its impact on sex workers, free speech, and the internet.

March 2018 DSW’s Melissa Broudo coordinated and led a panel discussing diversity of experience within the sex industry at the first-ever sex worker event hosted by MOMA.

January 2018 DSW’s Melissa Broudo and members of the sex worker activist community, the NYC Stripper Strike, and allies marched together in the second Women’s March in NYC.  

December 2017 DSW’s Melissa Broudo has participated in dozens of interviews on video, podcasts, and in print. Here she is being interviewed in her home as part of a video for the website of Gays...

November 2017 DSW’s Kaytlin Bailey poses with a red umbrella, the international symbol of sex worker rights, for her podcast, “The Oldest Profession.”

June 2017 DSW’s Kaytlin Bailey performs at QED during a show she produced, “Sex Workers Stand Up.”

January 2016 Kaytlin Bailey performs at The Stand in NYC.