| Description | Now that gay marriage is legal in the District, what’s next for gay activists in D.C.? The Gay and Lesbian Activist Alliance (GLAA) recently released its 2010 agenda, which prioritizes causes like keeping same-sex marriage legal, fighting HIV in D.C., and addressing the city’s response to hate crimes. But Mike Debonis points us to a more “taboo” priority for D.C.’s LGBT activist set: Legalizing prostitution.
The final item on the GLAA’s agenda is “Prostitution: Legalize It, Regulate It, Zone It, Tax It.” And their plan to do so is pretty awesome:
“Public officials seldom ask a most practical question,” the agenda reads. “[W]ho benefits from the criminalization of prostitution?” The agenda goes on to cite notable scholars on the question, from Samuel Johnson to Jesse Ventura:
Samuel Johnson described the ills associated with prostitution—crowding, intemperance, famine, filth, and disease—and assured his friend John Boswell that “severe laws, steadily enforced, would be sufficient against those evils, and would promote marriage.” Jesse Ventura came closer to the truth when he told Playboy in 1999, “Prostitution is criminal, and bad things happen because it’s run illegally by dirt-bags who are criminals. If it’s legal, then the girls could have health checks, unions, benefits, anything any other worker gets, and it would be far better.” Not just girls, Jesse. |
