The following announcement just came in from sex worker activists who are currently presenting at the International Harm Reduction Conference currently taking place in Barcelona, Spain:

This year sex workers and their organizations are coming to Barcelona to
increase the presence of sex worker issues at the International Harm Reduction
Conference.

Celebrate our culture by attending the First Ever International Sex Worker
Harm Reduction Mini-Fest. We are showcasing sexy and thought provoking films
made by sex workers.

The mini-fest is online (for a limited time only! May 11 to May 20) at
http://www.buymybloomers.com/ or come to daily screenings 12.30 to 1.30 pm at
our booth 1-level 1 at the conference.

The Mini-Fest has been developed by the International Sex Worker Harm
Reduction Caucus in conjunction with the San Francisco Sex Worker Film and
Arts Festival.

My hoodie smells like the inscence Snow was burning on polk street.  Everyone seemed to know him, and be very nice to him - everyone being people who worked at the nearby  bar.  He receives very different treatment then the street workers who were walking up the other side of the street.

“Be careful not to point fingers and just make us look bad.” he said.

I’ve heard plenty of what everyone else has had to say. I am interested in what you have to say.  Things are not as simple as some would like to make it seem.

“Okay, well, an article about us isn’t enough, but its a start.”

Aren’t we much more likely to survive or overcome, if we are cared for and supported?

I guess its that whole idea about needing a reason to live.

Genuine community is precious.

Check out this article on the choices women inside prison have to make in order to receive treatment and be reunited with their children:
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_8969528?source=most_viewed#top

Story of my life: my plate is always fluctuating between full and overflowing. Maybe one of these days I will learn to slow down more. I swear, its on my list of things to do.

In the meantime, I have started contributing to $PREAD magazine. A story that I am currently working on is taking up most of whatever free time I have left. Its all a work of love, and therefore I am fed by the work.

As part of the process, I have connected with Father River Sims, the punk priest of the Polk. I feel an affinity with him - and am inspired and humbled by his way of life as a Catholic Worker - Dorothy Day Style. Though I do not share his religious path, we do share the combination of spirituality and harm reduction. As harm reduction has become a main kernel of my life philosophy, meeting someone who is living the work (which is also a work of love) is pretty refreshing…even and especially as we share so much of the same anger.

Check out his webiste: www.temenos.org

(from sister maeJoy B withU)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 2008

Here is the official announcement from SWOP:

Visit www.swopusa.org/March3

Sex Workers Outreach Project-Northern California (SWOP-Norcal)

invites you and all our allies in San Francisco, to join us as we
march to celebrate:

International Sex Worker Rights Day featuring the Brass Liberation
Orchestra. Wear red, or your favorite sexy outfit, and bring a red
umbrella.

Please email us at swopusa@yahoo.com to join us as endorsers and
sponsors.

When: March 3, 2008

Time: 11:30 am

Rally: 301 Eddy Street (Tenderloin Police Station) We will march down Jones to Market, Market to Grove, Grove to Polk.

March to: City Hall. We will have a picnic in Civic Center Plaza.

For info: Carol Leigh 415-751-1659

SWOP-NORCAL is launching the first U.S. march to celebrate
International Sex Workers’ Rights Day, March 3rd. This inaugural
celebration is especially important to sex workers in the Bay Area as
we struggle to resist the escalating repressive policies of the Bush
administration.

This occasion renews our strength to demand recognition of our human
rights as we struggle to combat violence and oppression against sex
workers. This day reminds us that we are part of a global community of
people who refuse to accept the discrimination against us and the
criminalization of our work, our means to survive.

We appreciate the support we have received over the years from Bay
Area individuals, organizations and communities and we celebrate YOU
AND YOUR SUPPORT as part of this day!

SWOP-NORCAL demands:

• Decriminalize Prostitution! Endorse local petitions and initiative
drives to decriminalize prostitution.

• Stop The Raids! No More Deportations! In the guise of rescuing women
from traffickers, San Francisco Police Department collaborates with
the U.S. Department of Justice, resulting in the deportation of women.
The Bush administration, their globalization and trade policies are
the are some of the root causes of trafficking. Sex workers should be
empowered to address abuses in our communities rather than excluded
through this administration’s “anti-prostitution loyalty oath.” Sex
workers are part of the solution!

• No More Stings! Stop the Corruption! Stop the entrapment of
prostitutes and their customers. Clients and prostitutes are entrapped
in stings, then ‘blackmailed’ by the District Attorney into attending
stigmatizing, anti-prostitution ‘reeducation seminars’ (FOPP, First
Offender Prostitution Program). The fees are exorbitant ($1000), but
those arrested or cited attend, fearing exposure to their families,
etc. But where has the money gone? Why is there no compliance with the
San Francisco Sunshine Ordinance or financial audits? Although the
Public Defender also sponsors a diversion program, why does the
District Attorney enforce this monopoly on an expensive diversion
option for prostitution-related cases? Stop the corruption!

• Stop The Repression! Sex Workers and Migrants: Victims of Anti-
trafficking
Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women recently published a report,
Collateral Damage (www.gaatw.net), which explains how sex workers and
migrants around the world are being targeted by repressive forces
under the banner of anti-trafficking.

Fundamentalist feminists in the U.S. are lobbying congress to pass
increasingly restrictive and punitive legislation targeting voluntary
commercial sex. They propose a change in the definition of trafficking
to blur the distinctions between forced prostitution and voluntary
commercial sex. They propose expansion of the powers of the Department
of Justice to monitor the voluntary sex industries federalizing all
prostitution-related ‘crimes,’ which has even been rejected by the
DOJ. Stop the repression!

History of March 3rd

The 3rd of March is International Sex Worker Rights Day. The day
originated in 2001 when over 25,000 sex workers gathered in India for
a sex worker festival. The organizers, Durbar Mahila Samanwaya
Committee, a Calcutta based group whose membership consists of
somewhere upwards of 50,000 sex workers and members of their
communities. Sex worker groups across the world have subsequently
celebrated 3 March as International Sex Workers’ Rights Day.

Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee (2002): “We felt strongly that that
we should have a day what need to be observed by the sex workers
community globally. Keeping in view the large mobilization of all
types of global sexworkers [Female,Male,Transgender], we proposed to
observe 3rd March as THE SEX WORKERS RIGHTS DAY. Knowing the usual
response of international bodies and views of academicians and
intellectuals of the 1st world [many of them consider that sex workers
of third world are different from 1st world and can’t take their
decision] a call coming from a third world country would be more
appropriate at this juncture, we believe. It will be a great pleasure
to us if all of you observe the day in your own countries too…We
need your inspiration and support to turn our dreams into reality.
Background: DMSC The founding members of DMSC had come together
through their active involvement as peer educators in a STD/HIV
prevention intervention program, widely known as the Sonagachi
Project, which has been running since 1992. Since then we have been
successfully networking among sex workers in India and some other
countries, particularly in South and South-East Asia, to foreground
the demands for promotion and protection of our rights. Our political
objectives are decriminalization of adult prostitution, securing
social recognition of sex work as a valid profession and establishing
sex workers right to self-determination. We [brought] together 80000
or more delegates for this seminal meet, the first of its kind in this
part of the world. Although our resources are limited, our dreams are
unbounded and our enthusiasm is high and commitment unwavering. With
your support, we are determined to make this event a grand success. We
believe ONLY RIGHTS CAN STOP THE WRONGS. SWOP-NORCAL invites you to join us and sex worker organizations around the world to celebrate the
lives of sex workers as well as highlight sex workers’ determination
and strength.

Oooof!

It has been too long.  My world has been whirling with new jobs, new projects and more…The rainy season has meant most of my recent outreach shifts have been canceled.   But I have been getting BUSY, nonetheless.

So here is a quick semi- update of some important upcoming events:

-Monday March 3rd:  March to City Hall for Sex Worker Rights (more info will be posted shortly)

-Friday March 14th:  Be sure not to miss Sister (of Perpetual Indulgence) Maejoy’s annual benefit for the St. James Infirmary: Shamrockin 3: Even More Shenanigans at the N’Touch Bar on Polk Street.                                                                                                                                                                        Yours truly will be performing!  (probably as one of my Edna Uptight incarnations).

-Wednesday March 19th:  5th Anniversary of the War in Iraq - Get involved to stop the War!

Today, December 17th.

In San Francisco, there has been an incredible amount of violence against sex workers.  Last spring, the murder of Ruby Rodriguez a trans woman and immigrant was one that actually made the news.

Issues that sex workers face are complex and multi-faceted.  Often people who become sex workers are people who are already facing some sort of discrimination - be it an issue of class, race, immigration status, or gender.

Sex workers are strong, courageous people who are doing their best to survive.   Sex workers are also smart, beautiful, community minded, and maybe have an experience or two or ten thousand from which we all can learn.

Please take a moment to think about these issues before telling your dead hooker joke, or before assuming that someone who is a sex worker is less of a person.

Until now, the mandatory minimum sentence for possession of crack cocaine was 5 years in prison.  It took 500 grams of powder cocaine to get the same sentence.  This disparity has huge repercussions against the poor and communities of color…meanwhile, the white hipsters doing lines in the bathroom of the Beauty Bar are not worried about potential incarceration.

Check out the transcript on Democracy Now!:

http://www.democracynow.org/2007/12/12/commission_makes_thousands_of_prisoners_jailed