the city of San Francisco!
Well almost, and here’s hoping that I don’t jinx it.
Despite my recent political heart burn from all the hypocrisy over at the GOP camp, this bit of news has been a welcome reminder of what this country can be capable of when it pulls its head out of its ass(there are so many more enjoyable things to put in there, people).
Proposition K will be on the ballot in San Fran in November and if passed(please Goddess, bring this one home!) will succeed in the olympian task of decriminalizing prostitution in that fair(minded) city.
Violet Blue, in her column over at SF Gate, has a written an excellent article on the topic. Half Barbary coast history lesson, half interview with Patricia West (a current sex worker/advocate) the article sets just the right tone of entertainment and information. In my humble, but not uneducated on the issues, opinion VB and Ms. West fully address the main anti-sex-work arguments in a clear, logical manner that helps illuminate said arguments for what they really are – the women/sex/freedom hating rhetoric of fear mongers.
Here’s a quick snippet of Ms. West responding to the knee-jerk accusations that decriminalization will lead us all to hell in a hand basket(paraphrase of VB’s question):
“Proposition K will not stop the enforcement of laws against lewd acts in public, littering, or other “quality of life” offenses. It will allow sex workers to organize for their rights and safety. Proposition K will also free up critical resources currently used to enforce prostitution laws so that those funds can be used to combat higher priority crimes truly “harmful to families and communities.””
Amen sister! And next time some local government official, up for re-election, wants to get some media coverage let’s make him buy the air time just like every other salesperson. No more publicity stunts involving prostitution stings. Or here’s a thought, earn your media coverage by actually doing something that matters instead of playing to humanities lowest common denominator.
Where ever you stand on the issue, I strongly suggest you follow the link and give it a read:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2008/09/11/violetblue.DTL
And here’s the Prop K link if you’d rather go right to the source:
On a similar note I have to say I have been nothing but impressed with the articles that I’ve been reading over at SF gate. The Stranger, or local “equivalent” can be so very immature and snarky. It’s nice to read a paper that addresses the issues from a similar lefty stance as myself, without an excessive use of Jack-Ass tactics. Like this article by Mark Morford on all that antacid-inspiring muck-raking that went down at the RNC:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/09/09/politics/p165125D92.DTL
