News on Youtube Jul 28 2018

Today we are going to fight, we're gonna stand strong for what we believe in: each other.

Last month the corridors of power in Washington opened up to the world's oldest profession.

40 sex workers met with 30 members of Congress to push back

against the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act.

Why would professional lawmakers meet with professional law breakers?

Reason tagged along to find out why.

So what we're doing right now is super exciting because, as far as we know,

there has never been a sex worker lobby day on the hill, but there is today.

We're going to be going to our representatives, talking with them.

A lot of them aren't super familiar with sex worker rights.

Particularly in the wake of SESTA and how SESTA has impacted us.

SESTA is a bill that passed recently

that heavily restricts and criminalizes advertising for sex work on the internet.

The Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act or SESTA

would allow sex trafficking victims to have their day in court

by eliminating federal liability protections for technology providers that knowingly, knowingly

facilitate online sex trafficking.

Today when the house votes on FOSTA, we will be sending a clear message

businesses that sell human beings online can no longer do so with impunity.

FOSTA stands for Fighting Online Sex Trafficking Act.

It is a law that purports to fight minors being forced into sex work

and it purports to do it by increasing liability for online intermediaries.

The bill also provides increased criminal liability and thus deters websites and individuals

from selling human beings online.

Websites will no longer be able to turn a blind eye

or actively conceal this horrific practice

without facing very real consequences.

The federal government says if you're an online platform,

you generally are not liable for what goes on, by users, on your site.

FOSTA and SESTA before that are the first steps towards enforcing more liability

allegedly to go after sex traffickers.

We're really fooling around in an odd way that you don't expect.

We're fooling around with one of the legal foundations of the internet

that's been really so successful particularly with social media.

Cragislist and Reddit have already shuttered sections of their website

citing FOSTA liability concerns.

Facebook, and other large technology companies have backed the legislation

while a trade group representing startups has opposed it.

Thank you very much for being with us today as we sign this crucial legislation

to combat online sex trafficking and bring criminals to justice.

Signing the bill was very much in character for President Trump.

It's a bill in which it appeals to people's gut instincts about things.

It doesn't ask questions about are we going about this in the right way,

what are the costs, you know all of those issues, populists don't ask those questions.

Thank you mister President.

The only surprising thing is he didn't support it more strongly

and I think that's probably because he himself has legal and indeed political issues

connected to various kinds of sexual issues let's say.

Today Carl Ferrer, the CEO of Backpage.com

the man behind what authorities are calling one of the world's top online brothels

facing criminal charges for the very first time.

The purpose of government is not to make people into better people morally.

If government's role is to enforce a majority or a minority's view

you're going to be coercing people who are pursuing their idea of what the good life is.

To even discuss sex work is something that we weren't sure what the response would be for that.

And that is the problem that we're trying to overcome here right now

is the lack of communication because we've found that most people

don't even know what FOSTA and SESTA are slash were.

And that they were very effectively manipulated essentially

into believing that it was truly an anti-trafficking law

when in reality it is hurting survivors of trafficking and itr's really hurting sex workers.

Sex workers often advertise on the internet as a way to screen clients.

And this is a huge help in keeping people safe.

If you don't have the ability

to check on someone's criminal record for example before meeting up with them

you don't know if they could be violent or not.

And because FOSTA limits in a lot of ways the ways I am able to advertise and run my business

it makes it more dangerous for me.

The Department of Justice had sent over a letter, very last minute

kind of sticking to the, I don't know if I'd call it ad hoc,

but the fast moving nature of the bill

that they obviously weren't even consulted before it was brought to the floor.

And even DOJ was saying that they question highly the constitutionality.

We live in a system where the process is supposed to be deliberative, it's supposed to be fairly slow,

you're supposed to have committee work, it's supposed to be informed and detailed

the original law had many problems and there was a lot of informed criticism of it

and Congress on the house side was responding

but then suddenly it was pulled out of committee on the house side

brought to the floor for a vote and passed and then signed by President Trump.

Once it got out of that and got defines as 'are you for or against

coercively forcing children to engage in sex.'

You know, that was the definition and no one was gonna vote for that.

These are tough bills because you, the titles of them and what people say that they do-

it's a set up, because then it's going to be an election year

and it's like 'well this person voted for child slavery.'

He was great!

-find a meeting that goes better than that one!

I mean he talked to us for an hour-

I don't often leave a building feeling hopeful for my government.

Exactly, yeah feeling like 'wow I feel like I'm being represented by my elected officials.'

Over 30 more congressional representatives would open their doors to Jinx

and other sex worker activists that day.

And by the end of the month, the Electronic Frontier Foundation

joined Human Rights Watch and the Woodhull Freedom Foundation

in a lawsuit challenging FOSTA in federal court.

What do we do?

Stand up, fight back!

I'm not saying I'm happy with Washington D.C.

I''m not saying I'm happy with the politicians.

I'm glad they did the thing that they are supposed to do, which is represent us.

So you can't bring down the whole system overnight.

We can't decriminalize sex work overnight either.

But as we continue to have dialogue with our representatives.

Perhaps we can shift it a little bit closer to the kind of government that we say we have.