Fwd: Press Release: Sex Workers Decry Verdicts in Backpage’s Federal Show Trial

Discussion
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Under the guise of going after “trafficking”, the U.S. federal government has been engaged in an unconstitutional war on consensual sex work and the businesses that facilitate it. Notably, they have for years been persecuting the former publishers of Backpage, which was an Internet classified ad site similar to Craigslist (as a sex worker, I used to advertise there myself). One of those two publishers hounded by the Feds, James Larkin, took his own life earlier this year, shortly before the case went to trial:

Now his co-defendant Michael Lacey, in a miscarriage of justice, has been found guilty of money laundering. A bogus ruling to be sure, but notable is that even though the defense was not allowed to tell the jury about information key to their defense, jurors failed to convict on the vast majority of charges the government brought against Larkin and Lacey. See more details below.

When you hear politicians, media outlets, or advocates talking about the dangers of human trafficking, sex trafficking, “sex slavery”, underage prostitution, etc., be aware (and let others know!) that these terms are often fig leaves meant to obfuscate what is in reality an assault on consensual sex work, Internet freedom, press freedom, and Constitutional protections.

Love & Liberty,

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