Vegas Sex Workers Demand Rights, Respect

Soulstice, of San Francisco, holds a sign while attending a rally on the steps of the Las Vegas Regional Justice Center, Thursday, July 13, 2006, in downtown Las Vegas. The rally was held in support of sex worker rights and legalized prostitution in the United States and was the culmination of a week long conference on prostitution laws and policies in the U.S. (AP Photo/Laura Rauch) (Laura Rauch - AP)

"Most human trafficking is not about sex work, it's about construction," Alexander said.

Federal officials say 14,500 to 17,500 people are trafficked to the United States a year; about 75 percent of federal prosecutions have involved sex trafficking.

"We just want the government off our backs," said Starchild, adding he used the conference to link up with other sex workers interested in restoring the "spirituality and dignity" the profession enjoyed in Elizabethan England.

"We're like courtesans," he said.

Hausbeck acknowledged that the political climate may not be ripe for a mass decriminalization movement.

But she and other advocates won the sympathy of 76-year-old Mary Ellen Hopkins, a quilting expert who held a seminar in the conference room next to the sex workers' meeting.

Hopkins said she and the quilters at first laughed at their neighbors and then listened to their arguments. She ended up outside the courthouse addressing reporters in front of a banner reading, "Support your local sex worker."

"I think it's better to legalize it," she said. "If you legalize it, maybe you'll get rid of all the ugly stuff that comes with it."

___

On the Net: Sex Worker Outreach Project http://www.swop-usa.org/