This workshop will discuss laws and policies that harm LGBTQ sex workers, with a focus on transgender individuals, LGBTQ people of color, and LGBTQ homeless youth. LGBTQ communities are disproportionately impacted by the criminalization of sex work. Criminalization takes many forms, including street-based policing, crackdowns on online platforms, and targeting sex work as part of anti-trafficking legislation. The workshop will also explore actions taken by private companies to exclude sex workers from safer sex trade spaces. For example, Mastercard adopted a new policy in 2021 that requires adult content websites and merchants to implement stricter documentation requirements, content review processes, and identification verification. The policy makes it harder for sex workers to earn money online and makes them more vulnerable, especially those who are transgender women of color. The panel will discuss state and federal advocacy efforts for and by sex workers. This includes the reintroduction of the Safe Sex Workers Study Act that examines the impact of SESTA/FOSTA on the safety of sex workers and activities of the Sex Worker Advocates Coalition in DC and advocates in other jurisdictions focused on promoting sex work decriminalization and supporting sex workers to share their stories and engage in policy advocacy. Additionally, the panel will highlight a policy agenda released in 2021 by networks of people living with HIV, which calls for making sex workers a priority population in the federal HIV response and eliminating structural barriers to sex workers protecting their health. Intersectional policy work related to sex work, HIV, and LGBTQ issues is needed and must address HIV criminalization laws and law enforcement regarding condoms as evidence of sex work.

Download CLE materials here.