by Guy Page
The Burlington City Council last night unanimously approved a resolution to decriminalize prostitution.
The resolution says decriminalization will make both prostitute and customer safer, will reduce the spread of HIV, and makes LGBTQ sex workers less likely to go to jail.
H268, a bill in the Vermont Legislature to study legalization of prostitution, is now in the House Judiciary Committee. The bill finds that the ban on prostitution is rooted in racism: “the majority of Vermont’s laws on prostitution were adopted more than 100 years ago and have remained largely unchanged since that time. … Historically, these types of laws were used to prosecute men of color for having relationships with white women.”