DIGNITY—Law and Society Association Conference

June 1: DSW’s Kaytlin Bailey and Melissa Broudo attended this year’s Law and Society Association Conference in Washington, DC, where Bailey presented an abbreviated history of the criminalization and censorship of sex workers on a panel about the impact of FOSTA-SESTA, and her co-presenters brought empirical evidence demonstrating the widespread detrimental impact this law has had.

Broudo spoke on another panel, elaborating on the many interconnected strategies working towards decriminalization. Her co-presenters spoke to the competing frameworks, obstacles, and growing momentum behind the international movement to end the prohibition of prostitution.

International Whores Day Anniversary Celebration

June 2: DSW hosted a picnic celebrating International Whores Day. On June 2, 1975, more than 200 street-based sex workers in Lyon, France, occupied the church of St. Nazier to protest police corruption and brutality. They hung a banner declaring, in French, “Our Children Do Not Want Their Mothers in Jail.” Every year since then, sex workers and their allies have celebrated the continued survival and resistance we continue to face.

New York Legislator To Introduce "Stop Violence in the Sex Trades Act"

June 10: Assemblywoman Julia Salazar, in tandem with local coalition DecrimNY, announced that she would be introducing a series of bills in the NY legislature that would fully decriminalize sex work in New York State. While it usually takes years to enact legislation into law, the mere introduction of the NY legislation fits with the trend of good legislation that has been introduced in states like NH, RI, and HI this year — something we haven't seen in decades of organizing.

“Black Trans Lives Matter!!” Rally at Washington Square Park

May 24: New York Transgender Advocacy Group (NYTAG) held a rally in Washington Square Park to honor the three black trans women who were killed this year within a span of eight days. DSW stands in solidarity with trans women of color who are fighting and dying on the front lines of the war against sex workers.

When we listen to sex workers and stop the arrests, we free up marginalized members of our community to advocate for safer working conditions and enable them to report violence against them, reducing the violence.

St. James Infirmary 20th Anniversary Gala

June 2: 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 guests.

St. James Infirmary is the first peer-based medical service provider created by and for sex workers. It started as a coalition between Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics (COYOTE), Erotic Dancers Alliance (EDA), and the San Francisco Department of Public Health.