{"id":181481,"date":"2018-04-13T16:43:37","date_gmt":"2018-04-13T20:43:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=181481"},"modified":"2018-04-13T15:44:52","modified_gmt":"2018-04-13T19:44:52","slug":"womens-march-sex-human-trafficking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/womens-march-sex-human-trafficking\/","title":{"rendered":"The Women’s March puts sex worker rights over human trafficking victims"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Desiree Robinson was 16 when she ran away from her Chicago home. She met a man who began selling her for sex on Backpage.com. On Christmas Eve in 2016, after a paid encounter,\u00a0Desiree was beaten to death.<\/a>\u00a0Her mother, Yvonne Ambrose, filed a suit against Backpage.com.<\/p>\n

On April 6th, Backpage.com, a site that reached 97 countries and raked<\/a> in an estimated $500 million from prostitution, was seized by the U.S. federal government.<\/p>\n

Maggy Krell, a former assistant attorney general in California who worked on the case,\u00a0told<\/a> the Washington Post:<\/p>\n

“There is no one in the entire world who made more money off sex trafficking than the owners of this website. Seeing it shut down and having their business model become clearly illegal is really gratifying. If one case can change the world, it’s this case.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"sex<\/p>\n

Sadly, not everyone shares her sentiments. The official Women’s March Twitter account called the shutting down of Backpage “an absolute crisis for sex workers who rely on the site to safely get in touch with clients.”<\/p>\n

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. The shutting down of #Backpage<\/a> is an absolute crisis for sex workers who rely on the site to safely get in touch with clients. Sex workers rights are women\u2019s rights. Follow @SafeSpacesDC<\/a> @melissagira<\/a> @swopusa<\/a> @KateDAdamo<\/a> @supporthosechi<\/a> @anaorsomething<\/a> for more info. https:\/\/t.co\/S3Orx3aM8Z<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Women’s March (@womensmarch) April 7, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n