FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 15, 2019

CONTACT: June 2nd Planning Committee, BAWSinfo [at] protonmail.com

Bay Area Sex Workers invite you to “sit with us” -- because sex work justice is public health, community safety, racial justice, economic justice.

OAKLAND, CA: On June 2, International Sex Worker’s Day, communities all over the country will gather to advocate for the health, safety, and protection of sex workers. Last year, our gathering took place in response to the passing of FOSTA / SESTA (Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act and Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act), legislation which has further criminalized and endangered sex workers throughout the United States. As sex workers predicted, the San Francisco Police Department revealed that arrests for prostitution and pimping related charges have tripled since FOSTA / SESTA. A study by the Center for Court Innovation showed that 30% of participants were threatened with violence from a police officer, 27% were harassed for their gender presentation by police and 15% were raped by a police officer (the police did not arrest them in exchange for sex) (White et al. 2017). As our communities continue to process this struggle, and other forms of systematic oppression, sex workers and our allies want to take time to gather to celebrate. We want to acknowledge how much we have organized and strengthened themselves over the course of the past twelve months.

Bay Area Workers Support (BAWS), a peer-to-peer support organization for and by sex workers, invites you to join us at Oscar Grant Plaza in Downtown Oakland, CA on June 2nd from 12-4pm to advocate and celebrate all those working within the sex trade and their allies. The event’s theme is “Sit With Us,” an invitation to our larger community to rally with us to table about our respective and overlapping work, celebrate, and strengthen the intersections between issues that impact sex workers, women, people of color, LBTQIA+ folks, low-income communities, immigrants and more. We would like to work across sectors and identities on our shared issues at a common table - please come sit with us.

Activities will include tabling by community organizations such as St. James Infirmary, Critical Resistance, Public Health Social Justice Collective, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, The Harm Reduction Coalition, Anti Police-Terror Project, Berkeley Free Clinic, Prisoner Advocacy Network, and more. Brunch and coffee vended by Coffee Not Cops and others, speeches from current and former sex workers, an altar to honor those in our community who have passed, as well as performances by sex worker artists and musicians. The event will be emceed, with programming taking place on stage from 1pm to 3pm.

Sex Worker Rights Rally & March,

Saturday, June 2, 2019, 12-4pm

Oscar Grant Plaza, 1 Frank H Ogawa Plz, Downtown Oakland, CA 94612, b/t San Pablo Ave & 15th St.

FB invite: https://www.facebook.com/events/453839412016968/

Bay Area Workers Support (BAWS) is a group of Bay Area advocates that fight for the health, safety, and livelihoods of sex workers post-FOSTA/SESTA legislation. We are organizing our community resources, skill-sets, knowledge, and power to provide: Support & resources for Bay Area workers; Immediate relief/connections for emergency needs; as well as strategic actions around sex worker safety, media advocacy, and policy. bayareaworkerssupport.org