DSW Newsletters Archives - Page 24 of 32

Hero(es) of the Month: TS Candii, SX Noir, and Gizelle Marie Organize the Largest Sex Worker March in U.S. History

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 Sex Worker Liberation March & Vigil. When the event concluded five hours later, it was conclusively the largest demonstration for sex worker rights ever to take place in the U.S.

The lead organizers of the event were TS Candii, SX Noir, and Gizelle Marie.

SX Noir is an activist, researcher, podcast host, and vice president of the Women of Sex Tech, a movement championing the intersection of sex work and sex tech. Her podcast, “Thot Leader Pod,” frames the conversation around sex, love, dating, and tech, “holding space for authentic conversations with innovators, influencers, and activists about how we navigate developments in the sex tech industry.” Noir’s work uplifts sex workers through storytelling, looking at the reality of this work in an ever-changing world. Her podcast “aims to unpack how empathy in digital spaces can enhance our human experience in physical spaces” and has featured other movement leaders such as Kate Zen from Red Canary Song and Jacq the Stripper.

TS Candii is a Black transgender woman, sex worker, organizer, political activist, and public speaker. A fixture in the NY sex worker and transgender rights movement, she is an organizer with Decrim NY and the Repeal the #WalkingWhileTrans Ban Coalition. Candii is currently producing a documentary called “Policing Our Bodies,” sharing the experiences that have shaped her life and her identity.

Gizelle Marie is a NY-born dancer and founder of the New York City Stripper Strike. Always active in her community, Gizelle Marie’s organizing work with the Stripper Strike has been the impetus for her becoming a national figure in sex worker rights. The labor movement was launched in October of 2017 to bring awareness to the abuse and discrimination faced by exotic dancers in NYC and around the country.

Many ‘upscale’ clubs engage in racist hiring processes, setting low caps on the number of dancers of color allowed on the floor. In contrast, ‘urban’ clubs, which discriminate less by race, are more dangerous and less profitable for dancers, and generally dancers have to pay high house fees to management and bouncers. The Stripper Strike partnered with DSW’s Melissa Broudo and Crystal DeBoise through their organization, the SOAR Institute, garnering support from the national Women’s March movement. The International Women’s Strike has also spoken out in solidarity with the Stripper Strike.

Collaboration for the event began months ago. Gizelle Marie launched a fundraiser this past June to support Black sex workers amidst the pandemic. As her work gained momentum and support, making a notable difference in the community, the idea for the march followed.

The march featured speakers including DSW’s Ceyenne Doroshow, who highlighted the critical vulnerability of transgender, gender nonconforming, and nonbinary (TGNC) sex workers of color, and how they have prevailed and built community against all odds. Doroshow’s organization, Gays and Lesbians Living In a Transgender Society (G.L.I.T.S.), has been working to establish safe and equitable housing for transgender sex workers in NY. State Sen. Jessica Ramos; Melania Brown, sister of Layleen Polanco; U.S. Congressional candidate Jamaal Bowman; and Manhattan District Attorney candidate Dan Quart also spoke.

The Times Square rally exhibited the unity and resilience of the sex worker rights movement amidst COVID-19. The march highlighted experiences of sex workers of color, particularly transgender or gender nonconforming folks, who bear the brunt of the stigma and criminalization faced in the industry. But those who showed up represented all corners of sex work, from immigrant massage workers in Queens organized by Red Canary Song, to Melania Brown, sister of Layleen Polanco, a transgender woman who died at Rikers Island while being held on prostitution charges.

In her Instagram post, SX Noir thanked all of those involved: “The mutual aid, legal observers, paramedics, security team, speakers, and volunteers. None of this is possible without you all! We literally took over Times Square!!! To everyone who donated THANK YOU 🙏🏾 as the lead organizer of this event, I am blessed and proud to honor my community with this action. ✊🏾 The fight continues! We are still accepting donations. Link in bio!”

If you are able, please donate to this incredible, ever-growing movement.

Hero(es) of the Month: TS Candii, SX Noir, and Gizelle Marie Organize the Largest Sex Worker March in U.S. History

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...

MA Democratic Senate Candidates Are Listening to Sex Workers

August 4, 2020 U.S. Sen. Edward Markey and U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy III, rivals in the MA Democratic Senate primary, both voiced their support for the full decriminalization of sex...

NY Senate Fails Trafficking Survivors, Again

July 21, 2020 Through our work with the New York Anti-Trafficking Network (NYATN) and the START Coalition (named for this bill), DSW has been tirelessly advocating for the Survivors of...

DSW’s Kaytlin Bailey on Sex Work and Police Reform

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...

DSW Takes Action Against EARN IT

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...

The Stripper Strike Goes National

June 27, 2020 The Philadelphia Stripper Strike, organized by Stilettos Inc., a local organization promoting labor rights for dancers, hosted a rally at Malcolm X Park. Demonstrators gathered there with...

DSW Newsletter Archive

DSW Takes Action Against EARN IT

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 privacy. The legislation claims to go after the online sexual abuse of minors. In a world that is quickly digitizing — and becoming even more dependent on internet security as the coronavirus pandemic forces businesses, healthcare facilities, schools, and other institutions to move online — the EARN IT Act is a sneak ban on encryption that, in reality, does not make anyone safer. Watch DSW’s animation on how the EARN IT Act, now on the Senate floor, would curtail end-to-end encryption and end internet privacy as we know it.

EARN IT would amend Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which protects online service providers from liability for content posted by their users. That immunity blocks most civil lawsuits and criminal charges under state law (except for sex trafficking) but maintains the tenants of federal regulations.

Under the EARN IT Act, the only way to maintain immunity is for the provider to comply with censorship “best practices” for fighting online sexual exploitation of minors. While this is a critical cause, these best practices would be developed by an “unelected, unaccountable 19-member commission headed by the attorney general, who would have the authority to approve or reject them,” according to Riana Pfefferkorn of the Stanford Center for Internet and Society. These guidelines would then bypass legally mandated deliberative processes to be quickly approved by congress.

Vulnerable people would be more at risk under the EARN IT Act’s mandates. Experts from Human Rights Watch, the ACLU, the Brookings Institution, and more charge that this legislation inappropriately goes after tech companies to solve a problem requiring a holistic social, policy, and enforcement solution. This approach would endanger the security of children, the rights of marginalized groups, and society in general.

Hero(es) of the Month: TS Candii, SX Noir, and Gizelle Marie Organize the Largest Sex Worker March in U.S. History

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...

MA Democratic Senate Candidates Are Listening to Sex Workers

August 4, 2020 U.S. Sen. Edward Markey and U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy III, rivals in the MA Democratic Senate primary, both voiced their support for the full decriminalization of sex...

NY Senate Fails Trafficking Survivors, Again

July 21, 2020 Through our work with the New York Anti-Trafficking Network (NYATN) and the START Coalition (named for this bill), DSW has been tirelessly advocating for the Survivors of...

DSW’s Kaytlin Bailey on Sex Work and Police Reform

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...

DSW Takes Action Against EARN IT

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...

The Stripper Strike Goes National

DSW Newsletter Archive

DSW’s Kaytlin Bailey on Sex Work and Police Reform

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 with a brief history of policing prostitution, and the social narratives we have constructed to allow police abuse to proliferate. Bailey then outlined how decriminalization provides a lens into a critical examination of state-sponsored violence and repression.

The conversation was hosted by Ali Wilkey and Michael Heras, co-chairs of the chapter, as part of Cape Cod DSA’s speaker series on policing, society, and police abolition running throughout the month.

Following her presentation, Bailey led a Q&A in which she fielded questions about gender stereotypes, mutual aid as a support system among sex workers, alternatives to policing, and more. “It was incredibly rewarding to explore these ideas with such a curious group of individuals,” Bailey said. “I felt encouraged by the support we received and look forward to future collaborations!”

Hero(es) of the Month: TS Candii, SX Noir, and Gizelle Marie Organize the Largest Sex Worker March in U.S. History

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...

MA Democratic Senate Candidates Are Listening to Sex Workers

August 4, 2020 U.S. Sen. Edward Markey and U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy III, rivals in the MA Democratic Senate primary, both voiced their support for the full decriminalization of sex...

NY Senate Fails Trafficking Survivors, Again

July 21, 2020 Through our work with the New York Anti-Trafficking Network (NYATN) and the START Coalition (named for this bill), DSW has been tirelessly advocating for the Survivors of...

DSW’s Kaytlin Bailey on Sex Work and Police Reform

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...

DSW Takes Action Against EARN IT

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...

The Stripper Strike Goes National

DSW Newsletter Archive

DSW Supports Criminal Justice Reform Bills in New York

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 session. The rally featured impacted community members who shared personal experiences and state-wide data to explain the critical issues addressed by each bill. Over the past year, DSW has collaborated with local sex workers and LGB and TGNC rights groups to repeal the criminalization of Loitering for the Purpose of Prostitution in New York state (S2253 (Hoylman)/A654 (Paulin)). Also known as the Walking While Trans ban, this repeal was one of the five bills highlighted at the rally.

Walking While Trans disproportionately impacts transgender and cisgender women of color, criminalizing them for otherwise legal behavior based on the way they look. Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance has stopped prosecuting the charge because of such discrimination. Last year, NYPD updated its patrol guide to stop targeting individuals on the basis of “gender, gender identity, clothing, and location.” Despite the fact that charges for Loitering for the Purpose of Prostitution were only brought in six New York counties in 2019, arrests increased by 120%. Of those arrested, 91% were people of color and 80% were women; 47% of the arrests occurred in Queens County alone.

Leaders of the New York City Council’s Women’s Caucus and LGBT Caucus submitted a letter, seeking a hearing for a resolution on the repeal of Walking While Trans. “Our laws need to reflect New Yorkers’ right to walk in public without fear of being profiled for their gender expression… As a Council, we cannot idly sit back and allow state law to further penalize and criminalize anyone on the basis of their clothing, gender expression, or gender identity,” the resolution reads.

Melania Brown, the sister of Layleen Polanco, a transgender woman who died of an epileptic seizure while in solitary confinement on Rikers Island last year, was one of the featured speakers. Layleen was arrested in April 2019 on assault charges and then held on a $500 bail for drug and prostitution charges from 2017. Unable to afford the bail, Polanco passed away two months later.

Together, the bills represent a road map to justice and decarceration in New York state. Each addresses a different facet of racial violence that routinely occurs within the U.S. prison system. The Fair and Timely Parole Act ensures that parole decisions are not racially biased and are based on who individuals are today, rather than who they were when they committed their offense. The Elder Parole Act seeks to end death-by-incarceration sentences in New York state by giving those who have served decades in prison the chance to be released. The HALT Solitary Confinement Act would end solitary in New York and replace it with more effective and humane alternatives. Lastly, the Protect Our Courts Act makes it illegal for ICE agents or law enforcement officers to arrest an individual for a civil violation who is going to, leaving, or attending court.

To help pass the repeal of Walking While Trans, text WALK to 50409. If you are a New York State resident you can also reach out to your State Senator or Assemblymember and urge them to vote on and pass this critical package of bills.

DSW Newsletter Archive

A New Bill Threatening Free Speech and Online Security Passes the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee

An amended version of the EARN IT Act, a dangerous federal bill that could effectively erase private communication online, unanimously passed the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee. The passage of the bill sets the stage for a high-stakes floor vote, one that could fundamentally endanger free speech and security on the internet.

Proposed by U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R–SC), the law would establish an unelected, 19-member commission to develop guidelines on prohibited content for online platforms to follow. If companies fail to meet set standards, legal immunity for content posted by third parties, protected by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, could be revoked. The bill’s provisions also threaten encryption, which protects online users from exploitation and surveillance by the government, companies, and other users. EARN IT subjects companies using end-to-end encryption to lawsuits, construing encryption as “recklessly” enabling the spread of child trafficking online.

The result would increase pressure on websites to censor sexual content, causing sex workers to lose access to online safety provisions and networks, income, and clientele; and, in the case of COVID-19, leading to a heightened public health risk. Under SESTA/FOSTA, sex workers have been barred from online platforms where they previously screened clients, shared critical safety and health information, and ensured secure payment. Law enforcement has also reported that, since the passage of SESTA/FOSTA, they have lost evidence and leads for many of the sex trafficking cases they were investigating using online tips. The EARN IT Act will only augment these harms.

Multiple human rights organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights Watch, have challenged the efficacy of the bill’s provisions. The ACLU issued a letter charging that the law would instead “undermine the privacy of every single American, stifle our ability to communicate freely online, and may jeopardize the very prosecutions it seeks to enable.”

“The EARN IT Act falsely suggests that we must choose between protecting children and protecting other fundamental rights, including privacy and free expression,” says Hye Jung Han, child rights and technology researcher at Human Rights Watch. “But the [bill] fails to protect children from online exploitation while undermining their fundamental rights to freedom of expression, access to information, and privacy — during today’s crisis and beyond.”

In a Cato Daily Podcast episode released in March of this year, Eric Goldman, a leading expert on internet law and intellectual property, described how the EARN IT Act removes web platforms’ immunity from being sued for content posted by third parties. Ostensibly an attempt to crack down on material that victimizes young people, Goldman doubts the legislation would achieve its targeted goal. Instead, the bill endangers free speech and the security of online users, particularly those posting sexual content.

DSW Newsletter Archive

Fighting and Winning: Ceyenne Doroshow and the state of TGNCNB rights

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 support trans women of color last month. The fundraiser reached its goal in one short week and the momentum has not stopped. The drive will support the establishment of housing, social services, and health care clinics for transgender people of color in New York City.

Doroshow and G.L.I.T.S. have been powerhouses of TGNC and sex worker rights organizing in New York for decades. In the wake of the disproportionate devastation borne by the Black and Black trans communities during the coronavirus pandemic, Doroshow’s work has taken center stage. Over the past few months, G.L.I.T.S. has been tirelessly supporting those released from Rikers Island. Many trans women are sent to Rikers for minor sex-crime activity, including Layleen Polanco who recently passed away in solitary confinement due to complications from an epileptic seizure. Doroshow and her team at G.L.I.T.S. provide career training, housing referrals, and certifications as well as a “TransDignity Post-Release Kit” for those just released from prison, including hygienic essentials like wipes and deodorant.

G.L.I.T.S. recently helped organize the 2nd Annual Queer Liberation March this year, initially canceled due to COVID-19 concerns. Along with VOCAL-NY, the Reclaim Pride Coalition, Black Trans Media, and others, the organizational coalition intentionally rebranded the march to highlight racial justice activism. Fifty-thousand masked protesters marched through Manhattan for LGBTQ+ liberation and Black lives. Leading the procession uptown, seated in a rickshaw of honor, was Ceyenne Doroshow.

In an interview with Vogue, Doroshow describes how, in the first two weeks of the COVID-19 outbreak in New York City, she lost 20 friends. Devastated but determined to help, G.L.I.T.S. collaborated with Rikers Island to determine a COVID-safe plan to get Black trans men and women out of jail and into safe isolation. The program presented enormous challenges, but it ultimately succeeded. Today, “we are thriving,” Doroshow says. “Those we’ve been able to help, they’re thriving. Some have graduated [from] college through COVID-19 and graduated at the top of their class. That’s what makes me proud, and that’s what I want, to continue developing these tools so that we can catch people before they fall.”

Doroshow recently participated in a virtual press conference on the State of TGNC/NB Rights. It is clear that organizations like G.L.I.T.S. are driving a movement that should not be underestimated. Last month, DSW reported on a 15,000+ person rally for Black Trans Lives in Brooklyn. The next day the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Civil Rights law extends to LGB and TGNC workers, who had previously been left unprotected from workplace discrimination. More and more, people are talking about the reality that transgender people of color face in this country. As Doroshow puts it, “there is a general problem when it comes to equity and trans people, people of color, Black trans women. There’s a problem when you’re trying to sustain and trying to live. For example, your landlord has the right to discriminate against you, and you can’t prove discrimination. So once again, you’re abandoned by a system and by a community.”

Symbolized by her position in the Queer Liberation March, Doroshow is quickly becoming a nationally renowned figure. G.L.I.T.S. is the definition of mutual aid and community solidarity in the face of hardship. The organization has been highlighting individual-based fundraisers for trans folks who have been killed due to police violence through their Instagram page. Many of the G.L.I.T.S. volunteers and supporters have been donating to an emergency relief fund to help bail Black trans sex workers out of jail. And it’s working, bringing people together when it is most critical. “Allies don’t come in color—they’re just allies. Having a bunch of young people care and just jump in and start organizing around us and helping us do the work—you can’t ask for anything better than that.”

To support Doroshow’s work and this growing movement, visit G.L.I.T.S.’s donation page here.

DSW Newsletter Archive

The Stripper Strike Goes National

The Philadelphia Stripper Strike, organized by Stilettos Inc., a local organization promoting labor rights for dancers, hosted a rally at Malcolm X Park. Demonstrators gathered there with picnic blankets, signs, and cash to tip the dancers performing throughout the day. DSW’s Rae Wilkins attended the event.

Amidst nationwide protests to put an end to the legacy of white supremacy and police profiling, demonstrations for strippers’ rights have also been emerging. In Los Angeles, NYC, Minneapolis, Portland, and beyond, communities have mobilized to protest a variety of injustices in the adult entertainment industry in the form of “Stripper Strikes,” a sex worker resistance movement.

The Philadelphia protest was a beautiful show of solidarity between sex workers and allies. Toward the end of the event, each member of Stilettos Inc. gave a short speech about their own experiences, goals for the organization, and hopes for the future. While they haven’t released a formal list of demands yet, the organization’s primary goals include equal employment opportunity and representation for BIPOC dancers, safer working conditions and properly installed equipment, and protection from sexual violations in the workplace.

Last year the CA state legislature passed a law that classified independent contractors, including strippers, as formal employees. The decision sought to provide more protections for informal employees, but in reality, contracts harmed dancers’ agency. Under the new law, management was able to withhold tips, demand high house fees, and regulate how much the dancers were paid. As a result, the organization Soldiers of Pole was formed in the Los Angeles area, founded by stripper and UCLA Extension teacher Antonia Crane, to advocate for unionization and worker protections.

In Portland, the Haymarket Pole Collective and PDX Stripper Strike, both founded by activist Cat Hollis, have mobilized to successfully pressure over 30 strip clubs to adopt racial justice and non-discrimination policies. The legislation’s goal is to level the playing field for black dancers and fight predatory management structures. The organization has grown to include members in 18 states across the country.

The New York City Stripper Strike was started by Gizelle Marie of the Bronx in 2017. Gizelle Marie has since partnered with organizations, including the SOAR Insitute and the International Women’s Strike U.S., to uplift Black strippers and other sex workers alike. The New York City Stripper Strike cites many of the same grievances shared by those in other cities including racism from management and staff members, discrimination based on race or body type in the hiring process, race quotas, bartenders and “bottle girls” stealing tips meant for dancers, and sexual harassment.

Many movements have already impacted club dynamics, but systemic racism and misogyny persist. As Black Lives Matter gains momentum and demands systemic change, we must fight for adult entertainment reform. To support Stilettos Inc.’s mutual aid fund or to apply for their cash giveaway, click here.

Hero(es) of the Month: TS Candii, SX Noir, and Gizelle Marie Organize the Largest Sex Worker March in U.S. History

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...

MA Democratic Senate Candidates Are Listening to Sex Workers

August 4, 2020 U.S. Sen. Edward Markey and U.S. Rep. Joseph Kennedy III, rivals in the MA Democratic Senate primary, both voiced their support for the full decriminalization of sex...

NY Senate Fails Trafficking Survivors, Again

July 21, 2020 Through our work with the New York Anti-Trafficking Network (NYATN) and the START Coalition (named for this bill), DSW has been tirelessly advocating for the Survivors of...

DSW’s Kaytlin Bailey on Sex Work and Police Reform

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...

DSW Takes Action Against EARN IT

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...

The Stripper Strike Goes National

DSW Newsletter Archive

A Victory Against Loitering Statutes in Seattle

The Seattle City Council unanimously voted to strike prostitution and drug traffic loitering laws from the city code. The decision is a decisive win for racial justice, human rights, and equity, one that DSW and other sex worker rights advocates are working hard to replicate in New York state.

Repeals were based on the findings of the Seattle Reentry Workgroup, a study conducted by criminal justice experts and impacted individuals in 2018 to examine how the city could better support people exiting the criminal justice system and cut down on inequities. The decision was endorsed by City Attorney Pete Holmes, whose office stopped prosecuting loitering crimes in 2018. Holmes said he has “long questioned the use of loitering crimes as a law enforcement tool, and [is] grateful that the 2018 Reentry Workgroup helped shine a light on their racist origins.”

Loitering for the Purpose of Prostitution is a violation or misdemeanor in multiple states and municipalities across the U.S. Statutes often define the charge generally, as wandering, remaining, or spending time in a public space* with the intention of committing a prostitution offense or promoting prostitution. Broad definitions allow police officers to target transgender and cisgender women of color for being in certain spaces based on how they dress or what they look like. Councilmember Andrew Lewis, who introduced and sponsored the repeal of both laws, views the ordinance as “an excuse to racially profile community members who had done nothing wrong.” Fellow Seattle Councilmember Alex Pederson celebrated the repeals as part of the city's effort to react and respond to the national conversation about police and structural racism in America.

SWOP Seattle, a chapter of the national Sex Workers’ Outreach Project, tweeted following the passage of the law: “Today Seattle City Council repealed drug and prostitution loitering laws that endangered SW safety, unjustly targeted non-violent peoples, and disproportionately impacted our most vulnerable communities. Today we celebrate.”

A bill to repeal Loitering for the Purpose of Prostitution in New York state, also known as Walking While Trans, is up for a vote this legislative session. S2253 (Hoylman)/A654 (Paulin) will hopefully bring the same safety and equity to New Yorkers. Over one hundred state organizations, including the New York Civil Liberties Union, Brooklyn Defenders, and Safe Horizon, have endorsed the repeal. District attorneys across the country, including in Manhattan and San Francisco, have stopped prosecuting the charge. Data supports that, where and when it is implemented, Walking While Trans is targeted and discriminatory. In order to truly support safety and justice for women of color in New York, particularly transgender women, New York must repeal the ban on Walking While Trans.

If you are a New York resident, please consider reaching out to your State Senator or Assemblymember to express your support for S2254/A654.

*For example, under New Jersey law, this behavior is prohibited in any “public place,” defined as any place to which the public has access, including but not limited to any public street, sidewalk, bridge, alley, plaza, park, boardwalk, driveway, parking lot or transportation facility, public library, or the doorways and entranceways to any building which fronts on any of the aforesaid places, or a motor vehicle in or on any such place.

DSW Newsletter Archive

Black Lives Matter

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 a symptom of the endemic racism that shapes the society we live in. The movement to decriminalize sex work is all too familiar with how police routinely target and violate Black and brown bodies.

People of color, particularly trans women of color, are overwhelmingly stereotyped by law enforcement, brutalized, and arrested for sex-work-related crimes. We know that the criminalization of sex work fails to protect trafficking survivors, compromises access to resources, endangers public health, and allows violence against sex workers to go unchecked. Black trans and cis women selling sexual services have historically been targets of violence. Police are often the perpetrators of this violence, or they turn a blind eye, labeling the crimes as “NHI” (no human involved).

DSW stands in solidarity with Black Lives Matter:

* We are marching in the streets to demand divestment from law enforcement, police accountability, and justice for far too many unjust murders.

* We are supporting incredible community fundraisers to provide aid and space for Black sex workers. These funds include, but are not limited to, a donation page for Gizelle Marie of the NYC Stripper Strike to help create housing and resources for strippers and other sex workers of color nationwide, the G.L.I.T.S. lease fundraiser to provide housing and healthcare for transgender people of color who have been recently released from Rikers Island, and The Black Sex Worker Collective donation drive, which also has a housing initiative.

* We are working with legislators to support bills that defend Black lives, such as the repeal of the ban on loitering for the purposes of prostitution (“Walking While Trans”) in New York state.

When sex work is criminalized, racism thrives. People of color are systematically excluded from harm reduction services, such as healthcare and violence prevention. Instead, individuals are criminalized for trying to survive in a world that fails to make space for them. This month is Pride Month; there is no pride for some of us without justice for all of us.

DSW Newsletter Archive

Hero of the Month: Portland-based stripper and sex worker rights activist Cat Hollis is demanding fair treatment for Black sex workers

Across the country, strippers are mobilizing for increased labor rights and racial justice in the adult entertainment industry. At the center of the movement is Cat Hollis, a Portland-based dancer and founder of the Haymarket Pole Collective. The organization began its work in November of 2019 to support “proactive policy and equitable treatment [of] Black and Indigenous workers by facilitating restorative justice in the adult entertainment industry.” Since the resurgence of Black Lives Matter activism in the spring of 2020, Hollis and her fellow Portland-based activists have sparked national momentum, building on local strippers’ rights protests that have been popping up across the country.

Hollis moved to Portland from the Midwest in 2015 and built her extensive support network from scratch. She is a Renaissance woman; with a varied career history as a sailboat deckhand, middle school teacher, gallery curator, and published playwright, Hollis found anonymity, acceptance, and empowerment in the adult entertainment world. Contracting with four different Portland strip clubs, she also did a stint in club management and was brought face to face with the predatory economic practices that can be used by clubs when booking dancers. With the support of fellow Portland strippers and activists, Hollis formed the Haymarket Pole Collective to bring advocacy and accessibility to adult entertainment.

Hollis describes the deep inequities embedded in a quintessential Portland industry. The Haymarket Pole Collective draws in artists, sex educators, night-life entertainers, designers, and bartenders. Their work is inspired by their experiences in adult entertainment but applies broadly to common struggles that independent contractors face: instability, discrimination, and resource scarcity. Hollis talks about predatory management, racism, and sexism in clubs, among other issues that people in many informal industries can relate to.

Perhaps this is why the movement has been so successful. Or perhaps it is because of the dynamic irreverence of its founder. Hollis frequently shares videos on her Instagram speaking out about sex-phobia and her experiences as a Black stripper and a Black woman. Her humor and honesty are as refreshing as they are compelling. Quoted in an OPB article about the movement, Hollis says the strike really started by accident when she made “a group chat of Black strippers, sending just memes and funny things to make each other smile.” Now, the Haymarket Pole Collective has members in 18 states, including Illinois and Pennsylvania, and the Portland Stripper Strike is one of the largest in the nation.

Already, the movement has been successful in getting all of Portland’s 31 strip clubs to adopt their demands for ending racial discrimination in the industry. The Haymarket Pole Collective released updated requests last month. Hollis says that the pandemic, and the closure of many clubs, probably provided the momentum needed to effect change. “Because technically none of us have jobs right now,” she said, “it makes it a lot easier.” She feels hopeful “that change is possible.” In a recent Instagram post, the organization thanked “all the dancers who risked it for the biscuit."

To support the movement for labor rights and respect for sex workers across the country, please consider making a donation.

August 1, 2020

The vigil filled Times Square with protesters clad in red, the color of solidarity for sex worker rights. (Photo: @thegizellemarie/Instagram)

Ceyenne Doroshow (left) and Vanessa Warri (right) pictured before Doroshow spoke at the rally. (Photo: @glits_inc/Instagram)

SX Noir addresses protesters, speaking on how tech censorship has targeted, censored, and criminalized sex workers. (Photo: @sxnoir/Instagram)

Gizelle Marie leads the march downtown. (Photo: @thegizellemarie/Instagram)

Demonstrators from Red Canary Song, an organization representing migrant sex workers and survivors, listen to speeches at the rally. (Photo: SWOP Brooklyn)

DSW Newsletter #17 (August 2020)

July 22, 2020

DSW Newsletter #17 (August 2020)

July 21, 2020

Kaytlin Bailey’s presentation was the third in a four-part speaker series entitled “Policing Society.” (Photo: Cape Cod DSA/Instagram)

Bailey describes the critical intersection between sex worker rights, racial and gender justice, and police reform during her July 21 presentation. (Photo: Cape Cod DSA/YouTube)

DSW Newsletter #17 (August 2020)

July 14, 2020

Melissa Broudo (left) and Frances Steele (right) listen to speakers at a rally in New York City. (Photo: DSW, 2020)

Melania Brown, sister of Layleen Polanco, calls for an end to police brutality and justice for transgender women. (Photo: DSW, 2020)

The rally supported five criminal justice bills to provide a #RoadMaptoJustice in New York state. DSW Supports a Rally for Criminal Justice Reform in New York State. (Photo: Brooklyn Defender Services/Instagram, 2020)

DSW Newsletter #16 (July 2020)

July 2, 2020

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham proposed the legislation in March of this year. (Photo: Tasos Katopodis/The Verge, 2020)

The same human rights experts and community activists who protested the passage of SESTA/FOSTA in 2018, including the ACLU, Human Rights Watch, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, are speaking out against the EARN IT Act. (Photo: Wiktor Szymanowicz/Barcroft Media, 2020)

Eric Goldman is a professor at Santa Clara University School of Law where he co-directs the High Tech Law Institute and co-supervises the law school's Privacy Law Certificate. (Photo: Eric Goldman, 2020)

DSW Newsletter #16 (July 2020)

June 29, 2020

Ceyenne Doroshow is pictured marching for Black Trans Lives, following her speech at the Brooklyn Liberation Rally. (Photo: Richi Shazam/Vogue, 2020)

Seated in a rickshaw, Doroshow led the 2nd Annual Queer Liberation March, rebranded to include the Black Lives Matter movement against police brutality and racial injustice. (Photo: Leandro Justin/Out Magazine, 2020)

Marchers celebrated liberation and human rights for all marginalized communities, including sex workers. (Photo: Meryl Meisler/Mic, 2020)

Doroshow hosted a virtual pride event in partnership with GLAAD and the National LGBTQ Taskforce. (Photo: G.L.I.T.S., 2020)

Doroshow addressed a cheering crowd of over 15,000 people at the Brooklyn Liberation Action For Black Trans Lives. (Photo: G.L.I.T.S., 2020)

DSW Newsletter #16 (July 2020)

June 27, 2020

Demonstrators at the Philadelphia Stripper Strike gather for a picture in Malcolm X Park. (Photo: Stilettos Inc./Instagram)

Organizers from Stilettos Inc. deliver remarks towards the end of the event and thank attendees for their solidarity. (Photo: Stilettos Inc./Instagram)

DSW’s Rae Wilkins (left) and a friend toast to the demonstration. (Photo: DSW)

DSW Newsletter #17 (August 2020)

June 22, 2020

SWOP Seattle tweeted about the historic victory for human rights in their city. (Photo: Twitter, 2020)

Councilmember Andrew Lewis sponsored the legislation. (Photo: Twitter, 2020)

DSW Newsletter #16 (July 2020)

June 2020

DSW’s Frances Steele, J. Leigh Brantly, and Melissa Broudo (left to right) march for Black lives in NYC. (Photo: DSW, 2020)

Gizelle Marie — dancer, community activist, and founder of the NYC Stripper Strike — is raising money to support Black sex workers. (Photo: Tasha J. Fierce, 2020)

The G.L.I.T.S. fundraiser raised $1 million to provide safe and stable housing for trans people of color in NYC. (Photo: G.L.I.T.S., 2020)

DSW Newsletter #15 (June 2020)

June 18, 2020

Cat Hollis is a Portland-based dancer and organizer for the Portland Stripper Strike. (Photo: Tess Riski/Willamette Week, 2020)

The Lucky Devil posted in support of the movement and say they are making an effort to hold themselves accountable on Instagram this month. Movement leaders say they are wary of performative activism. (Photo: The Lucky Devil/Instagram, 2020)

Hollis and other dancers at a rally for #pdxstripperstrike in Portland. (Photo: Russell Dent/Rolling Stone, 2020)

DSW Newsletter #16 (July 2020)