Wyn Delano
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON (WMAL) — At-large D.C. Council Member David Grosso introduced a bill Thursday that would decriminalize sex work in the nation’s capital.
“The criminalization approach has been a total failure,” Grosso said while speaking at HIPS – a non-profit organization in D.C. that provides health services for sex workers. Practically, the bill would repeal existing laws that make it illegal for consenting adults to exchange sex for money.
According to Grosso, the goal of such a repeal is not to encourage prostitution, but to protect existing sex workers as a matter of “human rights, health, and safety.”
“We can bring people out of the shadows,” Grosso says “[we can] help them live safer, healthier lives.”
Laya Monarez, a transgender woman who used to work as a prostitute in D.C. spoke at Grosso’s Thursday morning event to explain how legalization would have benefited her: She said that there were many cases in in which she was robbed in her capacity as a sex worker, and even one case where she had to jump out a moving car to avoid being killed.
“In most cases I was too afraid to go to the police or report what happened because it seemed impossible to explain why I was in the situation or in a strange car,” Monarez said.
The bill has gained significant support from the LGBT community. However, even if Grasso’s bill does pass in the city council, it remains unclear as to whether Congress would step in and invalidate it.
In a city that already lives in legal limbo from attempts to legalize marijuana back in 2014, legalizing prostitution could become the latest issue to test the boundaries of D.C. home rule.
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