The main cause of forced labor in the sex industry is the criminalization of prostitution itself. Like the War on Drugs, the War on Sex Work inflicts collateral damage on us all.
Here are three bills that civil liberties activists should be watching.
Assembly Bill 549
Sporting events bill AB 549 is a bad bill predicated on a repeatedly debunked myth. Large sporting events DO NOT cause an increase in human trafficking. A simple web search or checking Snopes.com shows it is false.
This trafficking myth exists to justify funding high profile prostitution sting operations masquerading as human trafficking “rescue” operations by law enforcement.
The other danger of AB549 is that it further empowers law enforcement to detain already marginalized people to be deported without due process. Ignoring court orders to stop deportations, the Trump administration continues to treat people inhumanely, flying them to torture centers in Guantanamo Bay and El Salvador. AB549 plays right into these policies.
So you want a safe travel experience for the millions of people visiting LA during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Super Bowl LXI 2027, the Summer Olympic Games 2028, and the Paralympic Games 2028? Start with investigating and decertifying rogue law enforcement personnel.
The State Department of Justice could open with an investigation of the Los Angeles Police Department killing of Linda Becerra Mornan. LAPD shot and killed Moran after responding to her call for help reporting that she had been kidnapped and forced to perform sex acts.
A headline from the L.A. Times this week reads, “LAPD cops shot 21 bystanders in 10 years. How does it keep happening?” How, indeed?
Legislators: Stop state funding over criminalizing commercial sex between consenting adults under the guise of rescuing victims. Use our tax money to hold police accountable to make the public safer.
Assembly Bill 379
California State Assembly member Maggie Krell is a former prosecutor. now. Her anti sex work AB379 is a whopper.
The bill is a white feminist saviorism manifesto of arrest and punishment. Some highlights:
- Mandates diversion programs for all.
- Sets up a new “ho tax.”
- Re-criminalizes “loitering with intent” for clients of sex workers
- Assumes cops can read minds (determine intent)
California’s recently repealed loitering law, also known as the “walking while trans law,” gave police carte blanche in choosing who to arrest. The law was repealed because cops used it to profile and target Black and brown trans folks. AB379 reintroduces that same law, just on the client side.
AB379 is also a version of the (client-criminalizing) Nordic Model, long proven to be detrimental to sex worker health and safety.
Many of the bill’s sponsors, including Sacramento’s Community Against Sexual Harm, already operate sex-negative prostitution diversion programs.
CASH’s conflicts of interest in establishing new income streams are extensive. Under AB379, the state would charge $1,000 per client (a “ho tax”) which would be channeled through the California Victims Compensation Fund to groups like CASH for “Survivor Support.”
Assembly Bill 813
Prostitution shouldn’t be criminalized at all – and it certainly shouldn’t be named in California statutes as a means to de-house people.
AB813 defines housing to include mobile homes…so they can evict more people. Specifically, the bill aims to evict women convicted of prostitution.
The criminalization of prostitution already empowers unscrupulous landlords and property management company employees to target, extort, exploit, and evict those they suspect of providing sexual services.
Many California laws claim to protect human trafficking victims, but the state has failed to address the two primary causes of forced labor in the sex industry: the criminalization of prostitution and the lack of accessible, affordable, and safe housing. AB813? No thanks.
If you’d like to learn more, visit https://esplerp.org. To get involved, visit https://stoptheraids.org.
Maxine Doogan is an American sex worker, social justice and politics expert and advocate, documentarian, artist, author, and media personality. Doogan’s three decades of advocacy have expanded the rights and protected the working conditions of sex workers in Alaska, California, and nationwide.
