Sweet Emily J 172062 Report post Posted December 12, 2014 [B][U]Trans Spotting[/U][/B] [I]For the most overrepresented group among street level sex workers, who already suffer higher rates of unemployment and discrimination, life just got way more dangerous.[/I] By Naomi Sayers | December 10, 2014 [URL="https://nowtoronto.com/news/features/trans-spotting/"]https://nowtoronto.com/news/features/trans-spotting/[/URL] [QUOTE] Last summer, the Standing Committee on Justice and Human Rights (JUST) listened to witnesses from across the country on the potential harmful impacts the feds' new prostitution laws would have on the lives of women. Monica Forrester was among the few sex workers invited to speak to the committee, but she couldn't attend because she was supporting a friend, also a sex worker, who had been arrested under the law that was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Canada in December 2013 - the same law the Supreme Court gave the government one year to fix. Justice Minister Peter Mackay said the resulting Protection Of Communities And Exploited Persons Act (PCEPA), Bill C-36, was the government's only option. He went on to say that the bill "recognizes that victims of prostitution are manyâ?¦ they are vulnerable people" and that the "persons who sell their own sexual services are prostitution's primary victims." Yet the PCEPA enacts laws very similar to the ones that were struck down. Specifically, the PCEPA recriminalizes the lives of the most vulnerable and marginalized involved in the sex trade, trans sex workers. The new law fails to address their lived reality. Monica Forrester's submission to the committee sheds light on that reality. "A lot of trans women like me, because they don't have basic human rights, can't find jobs," she says. [URL="https://nowtoronto.com/news/features/trans-spotting/"]Read Moreâ?¦[/URL] [/QUOTE] Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
