A judge in Canada has ruled that Canada's prostitution laws are unconstitutional

I wonder what happens to the cost of services if prostitution were legalized.  Legal Nevada services are higher aren't they?

“...forced sex workers onto the street and exposed them to violence.”

"...individually and together, force prostitutes to choose between their liberty interest and their right to security of the person as protected under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms."

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Exactly.   This really is the crux of how anti-prostitution laws deny citizen’s human rights.    

In the cases of violence, robbery, and other forms of vicious attack, the U.S. prostitution laws do NOT protect the life, liberty, and well-being of this sub-section of society.  Should sex workers, individually and collectively, in spite of being U.S. citizens, have no rights to safety and "security of the person" solely based on the fact that their chosen work happens to be illegal?  I mean, should it be OK to allow this anti-social behavior because, after all, the sex workers are committing crimes?  Does this justify the means?  Should U.S. citizens without health insurance be left to suffer and die?  These are the same moral principals.  

I do believe (in spite of my recent frustrated and angry comments directed to LE,) that many of these same enforcers would rather focus their energies on going after the BAD people - the abusers, traffickers, thieves.  I’ve heard it said more than once, that privately LE really could care less about two consenting adults making sexual choices, including monetary arrangements to that effect.  What they care about is going after the criminals - the ones who rob, beat, rape, kill.   The atrocious trafficking of children and women.  Trafficking is another name for torture.

In fact, I just posted a website response to excerpts written by a former teenage sex slave, who was held as a captive submissive prostitute for three years before her escape.   This is a heart-breaking story, and she is only beginning to write about it.  Can you truly imagine being homeless, penniless, on the streets with nobody to help you?  And I mean literally.  And then, out of desperation, you reach out to a torturer who is disguised as a ‘nice man’ who only wants to help you find a job, give you a place to sleep, and even buy you a steak dinner since you’ve been starving.

To be brought from a place of desperation, to a state of new hope, and then be tortured alive.  And all within a couple of hour’s time?  To be severely beaten, raped violently by one and many men, drugged, sensory deprived, tortured with whips, hangings, electrical shockings, burnings, repeatedly threatened with violent death, and actually be brought to the brink of death  - - -

Can you really imagine?  These cases are no less compelling than POW’s.  

Realities like this would not be happening if our laws and priorities were set-up to truly intervene in the case of trafficking involving homeless girls and women.  And getting them off of the streets and providing safe places to be.  And that means precious resources committed to establishing those places of safety.  Further, in the cases of trafficking victims, helping them to a level of security to reach self-sufficiency.  Wouldn’t you prefer that’s where your tax dollars go?  

Or, alternatively, busting men and women who are having a good time - who, in fact, are mutually benefiting from such arrangements?  Trafficking and consensual sex work are not the same.  However, the *morally upright* citizens want to continue to legislate people’s sexuality.  They shamelessly use the ruse of the virtual enslavement involved in trafficking, to also further their agendas of finally wiping out prostitution for good.

This is America, the most powerful country in the world.  Setting the standards and model of democratic living.  But right now as you finish reading this, be advised that before the sun sets, many will have suffered horribly, hundreds of men’s careers will have been ruined and family lost, and the sex workers are gearing up for another night of silently praying that their next customers won’t turn out to be serial killers.

Amen brother.

I agree with you almost 100%, except that due to the puritanical nature of our countries mores, the police will always advertise their prostitution busts and even post pictures, harass individuals arrested but not convicted of the crime of engaging in these transactions.

In the eyes of the police, they reap the benefit of making it look like they are making a difference for busting a reputable independent provider for running her own business. Regardless of how they may personally feel about busting a provider, they are complicit in that they go about busting them anyway and then grandstanding to the media for the sake of masturbating their own egos, thus jizzing on the face of the public that they should be serving.

Yes, sometimes they do get individuals out of sexual slavery situations, but in almost all of those cases, they have been tipped off by a concerned citizen or asked for help by the person being victimized. It is not a sting set up for the purpose of generating headlines, boosting arrest numbers.

It has been my experience, that the ones who break the law the most are the ones tasked with enforcing the laws. Yes, the police do many good things in society, but they are subject to the same human condition as the rest of us. Given the nature of their job they are tempted with abusing their power and can often be found to be the most heinous of criminals.

The act itself was not illegal in Canada to start with.  

What got struck down was a set of laws aimed at preventing brothels and pimping etc.  The actual result of the law was that the act was legal if you negotiated it and performed it outdoors.  However if you took it into your house, you could be charged with "disorderly house" and may forfeit the property.  A landlord or photographer could be charged with "living on the avails of the trade." and also prosecuted.  

The result was that even though the trade was LEGAL, providers who worked indoors were afraid to report assault, for example for fear of losing their homes, etc.  That was the grounds upon which the laws were overturned.  

...only performed outdoors???  that would make for a short hobby season in Minnesota

It's true that Canada starts from a more civilized position on prostitution but the logic of such a ruling would be no different in Minnesota. By criminalizing prostitution you encourage pimps and exploitation of women, and discourage them from enlisting legal assistance when they are victimized. Not complicated at all. Just difficult.

With good ol' Justice Scalia declaring that women aren't even protected from discrimination by the Constitution as he interprets it, the judicial climate isn't very good for such a ruling right now.  

My point was that the article when read from a Minnesota point of view would appear to have a very different meaning.  

Obviously Canada, being a different country has different laws and a different legal system than the US or MN.  I just wish that more people in our government had that same kind of mentality when it comes to prostitution.

Only so many licensed brothels are allowed and a new one operator would find it difficult to get a new one.  

Then the house takes half of what you pay the lady and charge her for room and board, so she gets less than half the price the customer pays.  With independent escorts she gets 100%.

I think it should be legal, but I do not like the Nevada model.

I agree with you 100%.

When I saw that story it just gave me a small bit of hope that maybe someday"the land of the free" thing as seriously as we should and have the wisdom to learn from our northern neighbors and a few other places.

Just vote out the self-righteous a-holes in the next election. Beware of the Tea Partiers. They claimed to be Libertarians but  liberty for all is the last thing on their minds. It is blatantly obvious what their real agenda is when they claimed that this country was founded by Christians and the Constitution was written base on Christian principles. What they really wanted is the freedom to discriminate and pay no taxes while enjoying the fruits of a civil society.

Any politicians who run on the platform of "family values" are most likely phonies. David Vitter is one of them. He is a hobbist like us, but at the same time disguises himself as the God-fearing family man. He can't have it both ways!