Petition to the Cambridge City Council for the Decriminalization of People Engaged in Consensual Adult Sex Work

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Petition to the Cambridge City Council for the Decriminalization of People Engaged in Consensual Adult Sex Work

Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui; Vice Mayor Burhan Azeem; Councillors Marc McGovern, Patricia Nolan, Denise Simmons, Tim Flaherty, Catherine Zusy, Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler, Ayah Al-Zubi; City Manager Yi An-Huang

Cambridge is home to many, and some of our neighbors and loved ones are sex workers. However, because sex work is criminalized in Massachusetts, sex workers in Cambridge live in fear that they, their clients, or the people they rely on for safety and support could be arrested at any time. In 2020, Cambridge's neighboring Somerville City Council voted to request the police stop making arrests for consensual sex work. No prostitution arrests have been made in Somerville since, a policy that makes Somerville a leader in human rights by protecting sex workers and their loved ones. We are now asking Cambridge to follow Somerville's lead and support the decriminalization of adult consensual sex work, including by requesting the police deprioritize prostitution arrests.

Scroll down to read our letter to the City Council and the City Manager.

Endorsed by:

Whose Corner Is It Anyway

Sponsored by

BSWAC

To: Mayor Sumbul Siddiqui; Vice Mayor Burhan Azeem; Councillors Marc McGovern, Patricia Nolan, Denise Simmons, Tim Flaherty, Catherine Zusy, Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler, Ayah Al-Zubi; City Manager Yi An-Huang
From: [Your Name]

The undersigned residents of Cambridge, organizations, and concerned community members respectfully petition the Cambridge City Council to recognize that people who engage in adult consensual sex work are neighbors, workers, and members of our community entitled to the same dignity, safety, and protection from violence and crime as anyone else.

The City of Cambridge should stop using criminal penalties against adults who consensually engage in sex work and should ensure that no one is arrested, jailed, or deported simply for selling or purchasing sex between consenting adults. Rather, the city should focus its resources on preventing sex trafficking and assisting people in the sex trade via material support, including anti-poverty measures like housing assistance, legal aid, and free health and education services.

Empirical studies demonstrate that criminalizing consensual adult sex work leads to greater violence, lower ability to report crimes, and lower access to health services and STI testing for sex workers. For these reasons, organizations including the ACLU, World Health Organization, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and Global Alliance Against Trafficking in Women call for full decriminalization.

We must confront the consequences of criminalization honestly: it does not make sex work disappear. It pushes it into the shadows. It makes people more vulnerable to human trafficking and other crimes, while making them less likely to seek help when those things happen. That is not public safety.

Cambridge should be a community where everyone can seek help, report harm, and feel safe without fear of arrest or jail for consensual adult sex work.

We therefore respectfully request that the City Council:
1. Recognize sex workers as members of the Cambridge community who are entitled to safety, dignity, and equal access to public services and protections.
2. Request that the City Council, City Manager, and appropriate City departments work with Massachusetts legislators and other state officials to support changes to state law that support the safety and protection of consensual adult sex workers, including the full decriminalization of consensual adult sex work.
3. Encourage the Cambridge Police Department to refrain from arresting people solely because they engage in consensual adult sex work or come together for mutual aid and protection, while continuing the investigation of human trafficking, which involves force, fraud, or coercion.
4. Inform prosecutors of the City's policy position with an eye on protecting people engaged in consensual adult sex work, treating them with dignity, and encouraging victims and witnesses to report crimes.

Respectfully submitted by the undersigned.