SAN FRANCISCO — Erotic Service Provider Legal Education and Research Project (ESPLER) has announced that it will be holding a press conference in conjunction with its planned rally outside of tomorrow's Democratic Convention to advocate for sex workers’ rights.
The press conference is scheduled for 12 p.m. (PDT) tomorrow outside the Moscone Center at the northwest corner of 3rd and Howard, with the Die In and Rally for International Whore’s Day to follow.
"We want the California State Democratic Party, the candidates, delegates, elected officials, the Central Committee members and all the volunteers to know this 'big tent' needs to include our rights too," said Maxine Doogan of ESPLER.
Specifically, organizers are hoping to present the Resolution to Decriminalize Prostitution to the committee's delegates, urging the California Democratic Party to endorse full decriminalization as its platform for the upcoming 2020 elections.
This year, the California Democratic Party Convention coincides with International Whore’s Day, a yearly protest for sex workers' rights that has only increased in popularity and attendance since the 2018 passage of FOSTA/SESTA.
Considering the high percentage of delegates expected to be in attendance that voted to pass FOSTA/SESTA, a bill which has largely been criticized as detrimental to consensual sex workers' safety and livelihoods, Rachel West of the sex worker activist group USPROStitutes Collective urged, "We want the presidential candidates attending the Convention to see and hear some of the real-life effects on our already marginalized community."
Following the press conference, The Democratic Decriminalization Rally is scheduled to run until 3 p.m.
For more information, contact Maxine Doogan at (415) 265-3302 or email info@esplerpl.org.