D.C. Gay Activists Fighting Prostitution-Free Zone Bill


By: Armando Trull // January 24, 2012

http://wamu.org/news/12/01/24/dc_gay_activists_fighting_prostitution_free_zone_bill


Courtesy of http://nopfzs.tumblr.com/         A sign designating an area of downtown D.C. as a prostitution-free zone.

A controversial bill that would allow the city's police chief to set up permanent prostitution-free zones will be taken up this morning by the D.C. Council. The bill lets police detain and arrest people suspected of engaging in street prostitution. Some of city's gay activists are planning to fight the measure.

Transgender rights activists say the proposal to establish permanent prostitution free zones in the District is a thinly veiled attempt to drive transgendered women out of neighborhoods, regardless of whether they are sex workers or not. Currently, the Metropolitan Police Department can only set up a temporary zone that lasts 10 days.




The Washington Post- Post Local


District's 'prostitution-free zones' likely unconstitutional, AG's office says


By Tim Craig | Posted at 05:23 PM ET, 01/24/2012

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dc-wire/post/districts-prostitution-free-zones-likely-unconstitutional-ags-office-says/2012/01/24/gIQAoc4MOQ_blog.html


D.C. Attorney General Irvin B. Nathan (Bill O'Leary - The Washington Post)


The D.C. Attorney General's Office said Tuesday the District's temporary "prostitution-free zones" are likely unconstitutional, raising fresh doubts about a bill before the D.C. Council to broaden the zones and make them permanent.

The comments by Ariel Levinson-Waldman, senior counsel to Attorney General Irvin B. Nathan, came during a hearing on whether the District should expand its use of the zones.

Morning Read: Prostitution-Free Zones Unconstitutional?


Move to expand zones seems unlikely

By Perry Stein | Wednesday, Jan 25, 2012  |  Updated 10:19 AM EST

http://www.nbcwashington.com/blogs/first-read-dmv/Morning-Read-DC-Prostitution-Free-Zones-Likely-Unconstitutional-138031033.html



The District's Attorney General ruled Monday that D.C.'s newly established "prostitution-free zones" seem unconstitutional, making it unlikely that the D.C. Council will expand the zones or make the existing ones permanent.

"Prostitution-free zones" allow police to make arrests for up to 24 days in the designated area if two or more people congregate in public and ignore dispersal orders, according to the Washington Post

ok, I can totally see why someone doesnt like it as they can arrest someone for assuming they are prostitutes on prostitute heavy roadways....

but the issue that has me scratching my head is why in the world is it a defeat for transgender people in DC? I don't get it.

When I read it, it gives me the impression that transgender women in DC dresses just like prostitutes and hang out on the same street corner as prostitutes but they aren't prostitutes.

Am I missing something here?

Trans Coalition, GLAA oppose 'prostitution free zones' bill


By Lou Chibbaro Jr. on January 27, 2012

http://www.washingtonblade.com/2012/01/27/trans-coalition-glaa-oppose-prostitution-free-zones-bill/


Marchers protest 'Prostitution Free Zones' on the Transgender Day of Action. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)


The D.C. Trans Coalition and the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance are calling on the D.C. City Council to defeat a bill calling for giving the city's police chief authority to establish permanent "prostitution free zones."

The two groups have joined civil liberates advocates in charging that a 2005 law creating the zones has resulted in improper targeting of transgender women and others for prostitution arrests.