Prostitution in Rhode Island
Encyclopedia
Prostitution in Rhode Island was outlawed in 2009. On November 3, 2009, Governor Donald Carcieri
signed into law a bill which makes the buying and selling of sexual services a crime.
Prostitution was legal in Rhode Island
between 1980 and 2009 because there was no specific statute to define the act and outlaw it, although associated activities were illegal, such as street solicitation, running a brothel, and pimping.
Nevada
remains the only US state which allows legal prostitution
.
.
The law makes selling sexual services a misdemeanor
crime punishable with a fine of $250 to $1,000, or up to six months in prison, or both for first offenders. The legislation includes a provision that empowers judges to erase any record of charges of convicted prostitutes after one year. Multiple offenders face a fine of $500 to $1,000, or up to a year in prison, or both.
Customers face a fine of $250 to $1,000, or up to a year in prison, or both, for first offenders, and a fine of $500 to $1,000, or up to a year in prison, or both, for multiple offenders. The law offers no provision to allow a judge to expunge the record of the customers. The crime is also classified as a misdemeanor
.
Landlords who knowingly profit from prostitution on their property also face fines of $2,000 to $5,000, and one to five years in prison for first offenses. Multiple offenders face fines of $5,000 to $10,000, and 3 to 10 years in prison.
It has been argued that the lawmakers who amended the Rhode Island prostitution laws in 1980 had decriminalized indoor prostitution by mistake, without realizing that the new laws were creating a "loophole
." Rhode Island State Senator
John F. McBurney III
was the only member of the General Assembly at the time of the 2009 vote who had served in 1980. He stated in 2009, "We probably vote on 500 bills a year (...) They didn’t know what they were voting for."
John C. Revens Jr. is a former Senate Majority leader and a lawyer who served in the General Assembly for nearly four decades. He agreed, “They would never sponsor a bill decriminalizing prostitution if they knew what it was. No way. Not in a million years.”
which defined the crime of prostitution to include any location (one bill, H5044, originated in the House, and the other, S596, in the Senate).
The most prominent proponent of criminalization was Representative Joanne Giannini
(D).
She introduced Bill H5044 into the House
on January 8, 2009 (co-sponsored by Reps. Coderre, Melo, Gemma, and Fellela), and it was referred to the Committee which considered it on April 4, and substituted the text (Sub A) on April 30. The House voted on this with amendments on May 13, and the bill passed to the Senate Committee on May 28 where it remained until the Assembly recessed for the summer.
In the Senate
, a similar bill was introduced by Senator Jabour
on February 25 (co-sponsored by Senators O'Neill, Lynch, Cote, and Picard). The Judiciary Committee conducted hearings on June 25.
The Senate hearings attracted much media attention. Asian spa workers, recruited by Tara Hurley
, testified against the bill.
After the testimony of the sex workers, a number of other groups spoke out against the bill. The Committee recommended version Sub A by a vote of 8:4,
which was voted on in the Senate the following day and referred to the House. Both bills were accompanied by other trafficking legislation, H5661 (Giannini) and S605 (Senator Rhoda Perry
).
As both the House and the Senate recessed, two separate versions of prostitution bills remained. Both chambers had to approve a single identical bill in order for it to be sent to the Governor, for him to sign it into law. The two bills differed in the levying of punishment. The Senate version of the bill called for staggered penalties for first, second, and third offenses. Prostitutes, their customers, and property owners found guilty of a first offense would have been punished by a civil “violation” and a fine of $100. The House version of the bill called for no penalties for landlords but contained stiffer penalties for prostitutes and customers who were first-time offenders. Anyone found guilty of prostitution faced imprisonment for up to 6 months and a fine of up to $1,000. The penalty for subsequent offenses was up to a year imprisonment and a fine of up to $1,000.
Upon review of both versions of the prostitution bills, the State Police, Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch
, and Governor Donald Carcieri
called for the passage of the House version of the bill, with stiffer penalties for first-time offenders. Supt. Col. Brendan P. Doherty of the Rhode Island State Police
testified that the police agency, "cannot support civil sanctions for such reprehensible acts."
was released to the general public—a documentary on the Asian massage parlors in Rhode Island.
The bill was sent to Governor Donald Carcieri
to be signed into law.
signed into law the bill which outlawed prostitution in Rhode Island.
In addition to the legislation's sponsors, the attendants at the ceremony included Rhode Island Atty. Gen. Patrick C. Lynch
and State Police Col. Brendan P. Doherty.
State Police Col. Doherty said that the new law "sends a distinct message to any group (which) thinks they could use Rhode Island in furtherance of their illicit business."
On June 30, 2010, the first woman was allowed to have her prostitution records expunged under the new law. Attorney General Patrick Lynch plans to appeal.
On November 20, 2010, the Rhode Island state police, Providence police and special agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement shut down a brothel operating in a first floor apartment in Providence and arrested two women.
of the University of Rhode Island
, and Citizens Against Trafficking (CAT). CAT was formed by Donna M. Hughes and Melanie Shapiro after leaving Rhode Island Coalition Against Human Trafficking (RICAHT) when that group refused to support Representative Giannini's version of the bill. Also providing testimony for support of the law was Concerned Women for America
, Laura Lederer
, and Margaret Brooks, a professor of economics
at Bridgewater State College
.
In addition to RI Coalition Against Human Trafficking, opposition to the bill came from women's rights groups, anti-trafficking groups, sex workers, and sex educators. These groups included Amos House, Brown University
Students Against Human Trafficking, Direct Action for Rights and Equality (DARE),
Family Life Center,
the International Institute of Rhode Island, American Civil Liberties Union
,
Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless, Rhode Island National Association of Social Workers and the Rhode Island National Organization of Women.
Other groups providing testimony included the Urban Justice Center.
Individuals included the women's chaplain of the Adult Correctional Institutions and Ann Jordan
, the Director of the Program on Human Trafficking and Forced Labor at Washington College of Law
, who provided testimony arguing that the bill would not help fight trafficking, but instead worsen the problem. During the summer recess, two Representatives, David Segal and Edith Ajello outlined their reasons for opposing the bills. Similarly Senators Jabour and McCaffrey stated the arguments for the Senate bill. The Senate bill was seen as too weak by supporters of the House bill because it lacked prison time.
In the United States, there are few resources and little support for male sex workers living and working on the streets who seek recovery. There are many issues that need to be addressed if recovery from this traumatic lifestyle is possible. They are at a high risk for HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis B and C, rape and abuse. Many male prostitutes are addicted to drugs and only have sex with men for money to support their drug use. A great number of male prostitutes consider themselves heterosexual, which makes identifying and treating them difficult because of their reluctance to disclose their behaviors to health care and substance abuse professionals.
After identifying that there was no data available on male commercial sex workers in the state of Rhode Island, Richard Holcomb, founder of Project Weber, helped develop a survey tool to conduct a needs assessment on this population. This required him to recruit and survey 50 male sex workers living on the streets of Providence, R.I. The fact that Holcomb and his team are former sex workers themselves was one of the primary reasons why this needs assessment was successful. For the first time in Rhode Island history, there is now valuable data on male sex workers.
Project Weber is a harm reduction program in Providence R.I. that offers resources and support such as needle exchange and HIV testing to male sex workers living on the streets. This program is named in honor of Roy Weber, a young sex worker who was murdered on the streets of Providence on Christmas Day 2003. Since 1998, Holcomb has created several documentary projects on the subject of male prostitution and addiction. He has done film work on this subject on location in the United States, Canada and Europe.
Donald Carcieri
Donald L. "Don" Carcieri was the 73rd Governor of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. Carcieri has had a varied vocational background, having worked as a manufacturing company executive, aid relief worker, bank executive and teacher.-Personal background:...
signed into law a bill which makes the buying and selling of sexual services a crime.
Prostitution was legal in Rhode Island
Rhode Island
The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...
between 1980 and 2009 because there was no specific statute to define the act and outlaw it, although associated activities were illegal, such as street solicitation, running a brothel, and pimping.
Nevada
Prostitution in Nevada
Nevada is the only U.S. state to allow some legal prostitution, in the form of regulated brothels. Prostitution outside these licensed brothels is illegal....
remains the only US state which allows legal prostitution
Prostitution in the United States
Prostitution in the United States is illegal except in some small rural communities in Nevada. In the United States, each state has the power to regulate prostitution in that state. Only in parts of Nevada is prostitution legal. In all other states prostitution is usually classified as a...
.
Legal status
Exchanging sex for money is illegal, for both the prostitute and the customer, and is classified as a misdemeanorMisdemeanor
A misdemeanor is a "lesser" criminal act in many common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished much less severely than felonies, but theoretically more so than administrative infractions and regulatory offences...
.
The law makes selling sexual services a misdemeanor
Misdemeanor
A misdemeanor is a "lesser" criminal act in many common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished much less severely than felonies, but theoretically more so than administrative infractions and regulatory offences...
crime punishable with a fine of $250 to $1,000, or up to six months in prison, or both for first offenders. The legislation includes a provision that empowers judges to erase any record of charges of convicted prostitutes after one year. Multiple offenders face a fine of $500 to $1,000, or up to a year in prison, or both.
Customers face a fine of $250 to $1,000, or up to a year in prison, or both, for first offenders, and a fine of $500 to $1,000, or up to a year in prison, or both, for multiple offenders. The law offers no provision to allow a judge to expunge the record of the customers. The crime is also classified as a misdemeanor
Misdemeanor
A misdemeanor is a "lesser" criminal act in many common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished much less severely than felonies, but theoretically more so than administrative infractions and regulatory offences...
.
Landlords who knowingly profit from prostitution on their property also face fines of $2,000 to $5,000, and one to five years in prison for first offenses. Multiple offenders face fines of $5,000 to $10,000, and 3 to 10 years in prison.
History
Prostitution was decriminalized in Rhode Island in 1980, when the prostitution laws were amended, reducing prostitution from a felony to a misdemeanor. The drafters of the law deleted the section that addressed committing the act of prostitution itself, and only street solicitation remained illegal. Prostitution remained legal in the state until November 2009, when it was outlawed again.It has been argued that the lawmakers who amended the Rhode Island prostitution laws in 1980 had decriminalized indoor prostitution by mistake, without realizing that the new laws were creating a "loophole
Loophole
A loophole is a weakness that allows a system to be circumvented.Loophole may also refer to:*Arrowslit, a slit in a castle wall*Loophole , a short science fiction story by Arthur C...
." Rhode Island State Senator
Rhode Island Senate
The Rhode Island Senate is the upper house of the Rhode Island General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. State of Rhode Island. It is composed of 38 Senators, each of whom is elected to a two-year term. Rhode Island is one of the 14 states where its upper house serves at a two-year...
John F. McBurney III
John F. McBurney III
John F. McBurney III was a Democratic member of the Rhode Island Senate, representing the 15th district from 1974 to 2010.McBurney first won election to the Senate in 1974, replacing his father, John F. McBurney Jr., who had represented Pawtucket for 16 years.He announced his retirement from the...
was the only member of the General Assembly at the time of the 2009 vote who had served in 1980. He stated in 2009, "We probably vote on 500 bills a year (...) They didn’t know what they were voting for."
John C. Revens Jr. is a former Senate Majority leader and a lawyer who served in the General Assembly for nearly four decades. He agreed, “They would never sponsor a bill decriminalizing prostitution if they knew what it was. No way. Not in a million years.”
- 1976: COYOTECOYOTECOYOTE, or Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics, is an American sex worker activist organization. COYOTE's goals include the decriminalization of prostitution, pimping and pandering, as well as the elimination of social stigma concerning sex work as an occupation.Though it is frequently described as a...
is a union for prostitutes led by Margo St. JamesMargo St. JamesMargo St. James , a self-described prostitute and sex-positive feminist, founded the organization COYOTE , which advocates decriminalization of prostitution.-History:...
. They filed a lawsuit against Rhode Island. The argument was based on how much power the state should have to control the sexual activity of its citizens in the case COYOTE v. Roberts. The lawsuit also alleged discrimination on how the law was being applied. Data was submitted that demonstrated selective prosecution, as the Providence Police were arresting female prostitutes far more often than the male customers. Ralph J. Gonnella was Margo St. James's lawyer. He argued that the prostitution law was so broad that it failed to even mention money. It could make sexual relations between unmarried adults a crime punishable by a $10 fine, and the person who initiated the offer of sex could be charged with soliciting and face up to five years in prison. - 1980: Rhode Island General Assembly changed the law on prostitution, deleting the statute which prohibited the act of prostitution itself, but continuing to prohibit street solicitation. With the change in the criminal statute, the lawsuit was dismissed which was filed by COYOTE.
- 1998: State Supreme Court rules in State v. DeMagistris that the law against soliciting for prostitution was “primarily to bar prostitutes from hawking their wares in public,” and it could not be applied to convict someone for activity that takes place in private.
- 2003: Prostitution charges against four women arrested at two Providence spas were dismissed after attorney Michael J. Kiselica cited the 1998 Supreme Court ruling, successfully arguing that Rhode Island had no law against indoor prostitution.
- 2005: Bill to make prostitution illegal, wherever it occurs, died in the General Assembly; similar bills failed in subsequent years.
- 2009: Prostitution was outlawed. On November 3, Governor Donald CarcieriDonald CarcieriDonald L. "Don" Carcieri was the 73rd Governor of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. Carcieri has had a varied vocational background, having worked as a manufacturing company executive, aid relief worker, bank executive and teacher.-Personal background:...
signed into law a bill which made it a crime to exchange sex for money.
Legislative battle
At the beginning of 2009, two bills were introduced in the Rhode Island General AssemblyRhode Island General Assembly
The State of Rhode Island General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. A bicameral body, it is composed of the lower Rhode Island House of Representatives with 75 representatives, and the upper Rhode Island Senate with 38 senators...
which defined the crime of prostitution to include any location (one bill, H5044, originated in the House, and the other, S596, in the Senate).
The most prominent proponent of criminalization was Representative Joanne Giannini
Joanne Giannini
Joanne Giannini is an American politician who is a Democratic member of the Rhode Island House of Representatives, representing District 7 since 1994, currently serving as the Chairperson of the House Committee on Constituent Services. She also serves on the House Committee on Finance and House...
(D).
She introduced Bill H5044 into the House
Rhode Island House of Representatives
The Rhode Island House of Representatives is the lower house of the Rhode Island General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. State of Rhode Island. It is composed of 75 members, elected to two year terms from 75 districts of equal population. The Rhode Island General Assembly does not have...
on January 8, 2009 (co-sponsored by Reps. Coderre, Melo, Gemma, and Fellela), and it was referred to the Committee which considered it on April 4, and substituted the text (Sub A) on April 30. The House voted on this with amendments on May 13, and the bill passed to the Senate Committee on May 28 where it remained until the Assembly recessed for the summer.
In the Senate
Rhode Island Senate
The Rhode Island Senate is the upper house of the Rhode Island General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. State of Rhode Island. It is composed of 38 Senators, each of whom is elected to a two-year term. Rhode Island is one of the 14 states where its upper house serves at a two-year...
, a similar bill was introduced by Senator Jabour
on February 25 (co-sponsored by Senators O'Neill, Lynch, Cote, and Picard). The Judiciary Committee conducted hearings on June 25.
The Senate hearings attracted much media attention. Asian spa workers, recruited by Tara Hurley
Tara Hurley
Tara Hurley is an American director best known for the 2009 documentary Happy Endings?.Hurley was born in Providence, Rhode Island and grew up in the Riverside section of East Providence. She graduated from Providence College in 1998, where she received a bachelors degree in Humanities...
, testified against the bill.
After the testimony of the sex workers, a number of other groups spoke out against the bill. The Committee recommended version Sub A by a vote of 8:4,
which was voted on in the Senate the following day and referred to the House. Both bills were accompanied by other trafficking legislation, H5661 (Giannini) and S605 (Senator Rhoda Perry
Rhoda Perry
Rhoda Perry is a Democratic member of the Rhode Island Senate, representing the 3rd District . Perry is the chairwoman of Senate Committee on Health & Human Services and a member, Senate Committee on Judiciary.-Legislation:...
).
As both the House and the Senate recessed, two separate versions of prostitution bills remained. Both chambers had to approve a single identical bill in order for it to be sent to the Governor, for him to sign it into law. The two bills differed in the levying of punishment. The Senate version of the bill called for staggered penalties for first, second, and third offenses. Prostitutes, their customers, and property owners found guilty of a first offense would have been punished by a civil “violation” and a fine of $100. The House version of the bill called for no penalties for landlords but contained stiffer penalties for prostitutes and customers who were first-time offenders. Anyone found guilty of prostitution faced imprisonment for up to 6 months and a fine of up to $1,000. The penalty for subsequent offenses was up to a year imprisonment and a fine of up to $1,000.
Upon review of both versions of the prostitution bills, the State Police, Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch
Patrick C. Lynch
Patrick C. Lynch is Rhode Island's Attorney General. He has overseen the investigation and prosecution of the second-deadliest fire in Rhode Island history and also successfully sued former lead paint manufacturers for cleanup costs associated with their old products...
, and Governor Donald Carcieri
Donald Carcieri
Donald L. "Don" Carcieri was the 73rd Governor of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. Carcieri has had a varied vocational background, having worked as a manufacturing company executive, aid relief worker, bank executive and teacher.-Personal background:...
called for the passage of the House version of the bill, with stiffer penalties for first-time offenders. Supt. Col. Brendan P. Doherty of the Rhode Island State Police
Rhode Island State Police
The Rhode Island State Police is an agency of the state of Rhode Island responsible for statewide law enforcement and regulation, especially in areas underserved by local police agencies and on the state's limited-access highways...
testified that the police agency, "cannot support civil sanctions for such reprehensible acts."
Media scrutiny
Two front page articles were published in the Providence Journal before the General Assembly returned for a special session, and Happy Endings?Happy Endings?
Happy Endings? is a 2009 cinema verite documentary film directed and produced by Tara Hurley.Filmed over 27 months, it chronicles the lives of the women in massage parlors in Rhode Island during a battle in the state legislature to make prostitution illegal...
was released to the general public—a documentary on the Asian massage parlors in Rhode Island.
- On September 18, 2009, the Providence Journal reported that the Fraternal Order of PoliceFraternal Order of PoliceThe Fraternal Order of Police is an organization of sworn law enforcement officers in the United States. It claims a membership of over 325,000 members organized in 2100 local chapters , organized into local lodges, state lodges, and the national Grand Lodge...
representing the Rhode Island State PoliceRhode Island State PoliceThe Rhode Island State Police is an agency of the state of Rhode Island responsible for statewide law enforcement and regulation, especially in areas underserved by local police agencies and on the state's limited-access highways...
, and the Providence, Barrington, Warwick, and Cranston police had solicited donations from the spas. Many city spas have stickers decorating doors and windows, along with logos noting that the spa accepts all major credit cards. Donations from these spas also paid for ads in "The Rhode Island Trooper", the official publication of the non-profit Rhode Island State Police Association, a membership organization of state policeState policeState police are a type of sub-national territorial police force, particularly in Australia and the United States. Some other countries have analogous police forces, such as the provincial police in some Canadian provinces, while in other places, the same responsibilities are held by national...
“dedicated to the improvement of the law enforcement profession....”
- On October 25, the Journal reported that over 30 women representing spas in Rhode Island gathered at a Providence Community Center to voice their concern on the pending legislation. Sunyo Williams was working in a PawtucketPawtucketPawtucket may refer to:* Pawtucket, Rhode Island* Pawtucket Falls , Lowell, Massachusetts* Pawtucket tribe* 2 ships named USS Pawtucket* Pawtucket Brewery, fictional brewery on the television series Family Guy...
spa with three other women, and she said through an interpreter that nobody was under any force to work in that field, and that the women were willing to answer one by one and testify that it was their own choice. She said that each woman had a separate tax identification number and paid taxes, and that all her customers came from MassachusettsMassachusettsThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, and that the women were making money and spending it in Rhode Island. Some of the other women also spoke or asked questions of the lawmakers, or representatives of advocacy groups such as the Rhode Island Coalition Against Human Trafficking, who attended Sunday’s 8:30 a.m. meeting.
Special legislative session
- RI House of Representatives: On October 28, the House passed a bill which defined the crime of prostitution.
- RI Senate: On October 29 the bill passed the Senate.
The bill was sent to Governor Donald Carcieri
Donald Carcieri
Donald L. "Don" Carcieri was the 73rd Governor of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. Carcieri has had a varied vocational background, having worked as a manufacturing company executive, aid relief worker, bank executive and teacher.-Personal background:...
to be signed into law.
Signing the bill into law
On November 3, 2009, at a State House ceremony, Governor Donald CarcieriDonald Carcieri
Donald L. "Don" Carcieri was the 73rd Governor of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. Carcieri has had a varied vocational background, having worked as a manufacturing company executive, aid relief worker, bank executive and teacher.-Personal background:...
signed into law the bill which outlawed prostitution in Rhode Island.
In addition to the legislation's sponsors, the attendants at the ceremony included Rhode Island Atty. Gen. Patrick C. Lynch
Patrick C. Lynch
Patrick C. Lynch is Rhode Island's Attorney General. He has overseen the investigation and prosecution of the second-deadliest fire in Rhode Island history and also successfully sued former lead paint manufacturers for cleanup costs associated with their old products...
and State Police Col. Brendan P. Doherty.
State Police Col. Doherty said that the new law "sends a distinct message to any group (which) thinks they could use Rhode Island in furtherance of their illicit business."
Aftermath
On February 26, 2010 Providence police charged four women from two city spas on prostitution charges. Three of the women were charged with prostitution, and one of the women was charged with permitting prostitution.On June 30, 2010, the first woman was allowed to have her prostitution records expunged under the new law. Attorney General Patrick Lynch plans to appeal.
On November 20, 2010, the Rhode Island state police, Providence police and special agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement shut down a brothel operating in a first floor apartment in Providence and arrested two women.
Parties in the debate
The main support for a full prostitution ban has come from the Governor, Attorney General, police, Donna M. HughesDonna M. Hughes
Donna M. Hughes is a University of Rhode Island professor of women's studies and activist against prostitution and human trafficking, and pornography....
of the University of Rhode Island
University of Rhode Island
The University of Rhode Island is the principal public research university in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. Its main campus is located in Kingston. Additional campuses include the Feinstein Campus in Providence, the Narragansett Bay Campus in Narragansett, and the W. Alton Jones Campus in West...
, and Citizens Against Trafficking (CAT). CAT was formed by Donna M. Hughes and Melanie Shapiro after leaving Rhode Island Coalition Against Human Trafficking (RICAHT) when that group refused to support Representative Giannini's version of the bill. Also providing testimony for support of the law was Concerned Women for America
Concerned Women for America
Concerned Women for America is a conservative Christian public policy group active in the United States best known for its stance against abortion...
, Laura Lederer
Laura Lederer
Laura J. Lederer is a legal scholar and former Senior Advisor on Trafficking in Persons in the Office for Democracy and Global Affairs of the United States Department of State. She has also been an activist against human trafficking, prostitution, pornography, and hate speech...
, and Margaret Brooks, a professor of economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
at Bridgewater State College
Bridgewater State College
Bridgewater State University is a public liberal-arts college in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is the largest college in the Massachusetts state university system outside of the University of Massachusetts system. The school's mascot is the bear.-History:BSU was founded by...
.
In addition to RI Coalition Against Human Trafficking, opposition to the bill came from women's rights groups, anti-trafficking groups, sex workers, and sex educators. These groups included Amos House, Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
Students Against Human Trafficking, Direct Action for Rights and Equality (DARE),
Family Life Center,
the International Institute of Rhode Island, American Civil Liberties Union
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...
,
Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless, Rhode Island National Association of Social Workers and the Rhode Island National Organization of Women.
Other groups providing testimony included the Urban Justice Center.
Individuals included the women's chaplain of the Adult Correctional Institutions and Ann Jordan
Ann Jordan
Ann Dibble Jordan previously known as Ann Cook, is a company director and formal social worker. She has been a director of Revlon since March 2009.-Social work:...
, the Director of the Program on Human Trafficking and Forced Labor at Washington College of Law
Washington College of Law
American University Washington College of Law is the law school of American University. It is located on Massachusetts Avenue in the Spring Valley neighborhood of northwest Washington. WCL is ranked 50th among law schools by US News and World Report...
, who provided testimony arguing that the bill would not help fight trafficking, but instead worsen the problem. During the summer recess, two Representatives, David Segal and Edith Ajello outlined their reasons for opposing the bills. Similarly Senators Jabour and McCaffrey stated the arguments for the Senate bill. The Senate bill was seen as too weak by supporters of the House bill because it lacked prison time.
Help and support for male sex workers
In the United States, there are few resources and little support for male sex workers living and working on the streets who seek recovery. There are many issues that need to be addressed if recovery from this traumatic lifestyle is possible. They are at a high risk for HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis B and C, rape and abuse. Many male prostitutes are addicted to drugs and only have sex with men for money to support their drug use. A great number of male prostitutes consider themselves heterosexual, which makes identifying and treating them difficult because of their reluctance to disclose their behaviors to health care and substance abuse professionals.
After identifying that there was no data available on male commercial sex workers in the state of Rhode Island, Richard Holcomb, founder of Project Weber, helped develop a survey tool to conduct a needs assessment on this population. This required him to recruit and survey 50 male sex workers living on the streets of Providence, R.I. The fact that Holcomb and his team are former sex workers themselves was one of the primary reasons why this needs assessment was successful. For the first time in Rhode Island history, there is now valuable data on male sex workers.
Project Weber is a harm reduction program in Providence R.I. that offers resources and support such as needle exchange and HIV testing to male sex workers living on the streets. This program is named in honor of Roy Weber, a young sex worker who was murdered on the streets of Providence on Christmas Day 2003. Since 1998, Holcomb has created several documentary projects on the subject of male prostitution and addiction. He has done film work on this subject on location in the United States, Canada and Europe.
See also
- Happy Endings?Happy Endings?Happy Endings? is a 2009 cinema verite documentary film directed and produced by Tara Hurley.Filmed over 27 months, it chronicles the lives of the women in massage parlors in Rhode Island during a battle in the state legislature to make prostitution illegal...
, a documentary about Asian brothels in Rhode Island during a battle in the state legislature to make prostitution illegal.