by Guy Page
Tomorrow, Burlington City Meeting voters will vote on Ballot #5, to remove from the city charter all language making prostitution illegal. If approved by voters and (eventually) by the Vermont Legislature, Ballot #5 would ‘decriminalize’ prostitution within the city limits.
Supporters say the existing language is sexist, racist and no longer represents societal norms. Opponents, including New Englanders Against Sexual Violence, disagree and offer the following reasons to vote no.
- Once you normalize the sex trade, it explodes. In Germany, where prostitution and brothels have been legal since 2002, an estimated one million men buy sex each day, coming from all over the world. The capital city, Berlin, alone has over 500 brothels.
- Men who don’t buy sex when it is illegal, become new clients. As a 2018 study of 8,000 U.S. men demonstrates, over 20% of respondents who never bought sex, would buy sex if it was decriminalized or legalized.
- To satisfy demand, the sex trade has to lure vulnerable people. There are never enough women willing to be exploited and degraded in prostitution. Sex trafficking cases increased 70% in Germany as a result of legalization. In The Netherlands were prostitution was legalized in 2000, an estimated 50-90% of women are being sold against their will.
- The illegal sex trade increases alongside the legal sector, when it is normalized. Nevada, the only U.S. jurisdiction with legal brothels, has the highest rates of an illegal sex trade—63% higher than the next highest state of New York and double that of Florida.
Burlington’s polls will be open from 7 am to 7 pm tomorrow. The ballot also will include elections and spending requests.
Categories: Local government
Perhaps parents from all over the country will think twice before sending their young daughters to UVM. Egads! What are they thinking in Burlington and Montpelier??
The clueless creeps who come up with these proposals in Burlington and Montpelier are NOT thinking–that’s the problem…
What about an EXPLOSION of STDS along with sex excess.
Yea, and it will do wonders for promoting local businesses. Who wouldn’t want to bring their 12-year-old shoe shopping on Church St with such an exciting new distinction in Burlington’s “vibrance”.
The juveniles who have taken over the Burlington City Council are destroying it.
Legalization and decriminalization are two different things! Words matter.
They are distinct but…marijuana was first decriminalized, then legalized, and now we soon will have a retail market. It is reasonable to assume that prostitution may follow the same course.
OK Then! Bring on the whores! In colonial Boston one could NOT see a play until well after the Civil War but, according to David Hackett Fischers book “Paul Revere’s Ride” (no pun intended) NO town could turn out the whores quite like Boston! My dad told me during alcohol “prohibition” there would be “pint men” in Whalom Park w/long overcoats on the hottest days selling booze while the police never saw them? But in Burlington, Vermont? As if cutting the police force by 1/4 and tripping over bums & junkies NOW isn’t enough? I can just imagine what the new postcards will look like! “Having a GREAT time in Vermont!”..Are these folks insane? Doesn’t the sate test the drinking water over there? Lovely..
The one way to eliminate the possibility is for decent residents to vigorously defeat these proposals in Burlington and Montpelier to legalize and/or decriminalize prostitution, sex trades and drugs or encourage, so called, homelessness! Those who don’t want legal prostitution etc, MAKE SURE YOU VOTE and CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES, LOCAL & STATE!!
Sex trafficking explodes too – it will make victims of our youth.
Of course it will..these people have been wearing their masks too long..its killing their brain cells..no common sense left in any of them.
The leftist progressives are loose in Vermont.
To the toilet with the bucolic life, they want!
Prostitutes and drugs for free!
Kill that unborn if it’s not for thee.
And oh, those fighter planes they do taunt!
Who votes yes for this garbage ,pimps and criminals or people that benefit monetarily off people that are vulnerable .Stop the insanity .
I can’t wait to see the State Regulations on this fledgling industry.
Will prostitutes be required to register themselves as business owners with tax IDs? Will their income be taxable? How will their income be reported (receipts with bona fide clients listed)? Will they be covered by Vermont labor laws? What about sub-contracting (e.g., pimping, brothels, hotel room rentals)? What about worker’s compensation, unemployment insurance and disability benefits? And what about the physical aspects? Will they be required to show proof of vaccination for STDs? What about their customers?
And most importantly, will the State (or the city of Burlington, in this case) accept responsibility for damages that occur on the basis of these regulations? For that matter, will the courts be able to establish any legal precedents?
If you think Vermont’s governmental regulations and due process are ‘screwed up’ now (yes, pun intended), just wait for this ‘primal urge’ to take effect. Is it any wonder that the State wants to pass Vermont Proposal 5, Right to Personal Reproductive Autonomy Amendment (2022). This is going to be a lawyer’s utopia. Especially if they’re paid in kind.
Postscript: And just wait for Brattleboro get the scent. With those 16 and 17 years old allowed to vote, just imagine wisdom of their decision making.
“Women aren’t sex objects! Now stop opprassing me! I wanna be a sex object!”
-Insane lefty chicks in Burlington
Burlington…..
Down the rathole.
– Crime, shooting, gangs, etc. Police leaving. Increasingly unsafe.
– Huge Hole in the middle. Not to be filled soon. Lots of good retail exited / exiting. Restaurant world gone to hell.
– Dirty…Church Street…..uggg.
– Legalizing hookers.
– Leninists and Jacobins leading the City Council.
– Congested. Horrible (no) parking.
– Woke everything. Repeat….everything.
There will be no regulation at all.