Category: Fact Sheets

The BSWC Statement

June 4th, 2021 · · Fact Sheets No comments - Tags:

The Black Sex Worker Collective has released a statement in response to Uganda’s persecution of our siblings through the Anti-homosexuality Bill of 2021. The statement begins as follows:

Uganda’s anti-gay agenda is nothing short of an instance of neocolonialism and the Ugandan government has failed a large swath of its population by once again succumbing to colonial influence. Scott Lively, Exodus International (a failed American ex-gay lobby), and the Ugandan parliament, we, the Black Sex Workers Collective, condemn the hateful roots you have sown. The blood of innocent Ugandans is on your hands. The government has once again neglected sexual diversity in collaboration with a lobby group that failed to gain traction in their own country. We call on the Ugandan government to reject this harmful colonial export. This collaboration in bigotry builds on instead of dismantles the anti-gay agenda of the British imposed Ugandan Penal Code Act of 1950. We will support our Ugandan siblings in fighting for their rights to life and liberty.

Read the full statement here.

#EndingAIDS only possible with #sexworkerrights: UN Civil Society Hearing in NYC

April 6th, 2016 · · Fact Sheets, News Archive No comments

Today Derek Demeri, representing SWOP USA, New Jersey Red Umbrella Alliance and the Best Practices Policy Project, is attending a civil society hearing convened by the United Nations as part of the preparatory process towards a “high level meeting on HIV/AIDS” that will be held later this year in June. The official purpose of this meeting is to “provide civil society and all relevant stakeholders an opportunity to contribute to the ongoing preparations in a day of interactive panel discussions with Member States and representatives from civil society, non-governmental organizations, the private sector, organizations and networks representing people living with HIV, women, adolescents and young persons and other relevant stakeholders.” For sex worker rights representatives from the United States and beyond, this meeting is another opportunity to raise red umbrellas and state the obvious truth that we cannot “end AIDS” without full and meaningful participation of sex workers in all aspects of policy, HIV service provision, leadership and more. The New Jersey Red Umbrella Alliance and the Best Practices Policy Project have created a set of talking points for use during today’s meetings.

BPPP and  NJRUA note that, “globally only a tiny portion of all funding for HIV prevention and treatment activities is given to sex worker-led organizations. This practice must immediately change because we cannot end AIDS without sex workers as equal partners in this effort.” Within the United States sex worker rights organizations, “are also highly marginalized from funding and other resources, a situation made far worse because of the government’s failure to include any approaches to address sex work and HIV in the National HIV/AIDS Strategy. The US government must adopt a scientifically based rights approach to working with sex workers and provide adequate funding for sex worker led organizations to implement this approach.”

TWEET IT OUT: Nothing About Us Without Us, Decriminalize #sexwork to #endHIV #HLM2016AIDS

Direct HIV $ to #sexworkers in all National HIV Strategies, end the silence #UnitedStates about #sexworkerrights #HLM2016AIDS

VIEW THE UN Civil Society hearing online.

 

Why are Sex Workers and Their Allies Occupying Wall Street?

October 27th, 2011 · · Fact Sheets No comments - Tags:

In the last four weeks, many have been wondering what has driven people to Occupy Wall Street (OWS) and bring attention to the economic situation that has developed in our country. Critics have argued that so many issues are being discussed and that so many disparate groups have joined forces, that the occupation has no cohesive message, purpose, or goals. As our group of sex workers and allies stood in solidarity with our fellow revolutionaries Wednesday, October 5th at the rally at Foley Square in New York, it was apparent that we were included in that critique or question. What were we doing there? What was our purpose? What was our message? And how do sex workers’ rights connect to the larger OWS movement?

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