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::SCHEDULED
EVENTS
Weds,
December 17
International Day of Sex Workers United
Against Violence: A Green River Memorial and Call to Action
Multiple events scheduled throughout the Bay Area and
internationally.
Bali
A
small ceremony on the island of Bali for murdered prostitutes
everywhere. Sex workers are fully evident here -- female and male-- and
the economic hardships of the region mean that more and more people are
turning to prostitution for survival.
Berkeley, CA
10am-12pm
Berkeley Fellowship Unitarian Universalist Church
1924 Cedar Street
Memorial
ceremony followed by a prostitution decriminalization panel discussion
with Carol Queen of the Center for Sex and Culture, Veronica Monet from
TAP Communications, Carol Leigh of COYOTE and Dr. Rita Brock Visiting
Scholar at the Starr King School for the Ministry, Graduate Theological
Union, Berkeley, CA
Bremen, Germany
7:30 pm
Nitribitt e.V.
German
prostitute Rosemarie Nitribitt had many famous and rich clients in
industrial business and politics. She was murdered in 1957. Private
memorial to be held. Contact Robyn@swop-usa.org for more info.
Brussels
4pm
Palais du Justice
Vigil and presentation of demands for international
action.
Guernville CA
6:00pm.
Fifes resort.
The
boys and girls, men and women, fags and dykes, and all those who have
ever loved any sex workers will unite in silence to demonstrate
solidarity .
Greensboro, NC
6pm
Battleground Park
Candlelight vigil. Bring your canine friends.
London, UK
11 a.m
ATTORNEY GENERAL'S CHAMBERS
9 BUCKINGHAM GATE
Members
of the GMB will delivery a letter to Rt Hon Harriet Harman QC MP,
Solicitor General . Contact: Rose Conroy, GMB Press Officer on 07974
25823 or 020 7384 9671 or rose_conroy@hotmail.com www.gmbunion.org.uk
Manchester, UK
All day
STASH/Street Based Services in Cheetham Hill
There will be candles burning all day as a symbol of peace &
healing to end the violence against all sex workers. All the
street-based sex workers will receive a little prezzy to show them how
gorgeous & precious they are.
Montreal
5:00 p.m.
In front of the Palais de Justice, at 1 Notre Dame East
(Place d’Armes metro)
Dress
in white (you can simply bring a white sheet to cover yourself). Bring
candles and red flowers. Information: Contact Marie-Neige at (514)
285-8889. Come and support the fight to end violence against sex
workers!
New York City, NY
6 pm
Judson Memorial Church, 55 Washington Square South
ACEFV to West Fourth Street
December
17th, people around the world will call attention to violence committed
against sex workers. New Yorkers will gather on the steps of Judson
Memorial Church, for a candlelight vigil.
Bring candles, bring a sign, bring friends!
Contact information for PONY:
email: pony@panix.com
telephone: 212 713 5678
Oakland, CA
1pm-3pm,
1 Frank Ogawa Plaza at the steps of City Hall
There
will be a press rally followed by the delivery of letters to City
Council members lobbying for the decriminalization of prostitution. A
brown bag lunch will be provided by the Fat Cat Cafe.
Ottawa
7:00 PM
Human Rights Monument (beside the Elgin Street Court
House)
For more information, please contact Chris Bruckert
613-562-5800 x 1814 Suzanne Bouclin 613-565-3525
Portland, ME
5:30 PM
Corner of Mellon and Congress Street
Portland
activists will be participating in an intimate stroll down Mellen
Street (in the heart of the Parkside neighborhood) . We will gather at
the corner of Congress Street and Mellen and stroll down the five or
six blocks to the park. A 45 foot red glitter garland will connect us
to each other as we stroll. The garland is flashy and fabulous
in
the spirit of red light districts and unrepentant whores. The 45 foot
red garland also stands for the blood of the more than 40 women killed
by Gary Ridgeway, the Green River killer. In Deering Oaks park
- a
traditional cruising ground - we'll gather briefly (in snowy winter
landscape) to scatter some (biodegradable) confetti that contains slips
of colorful paper that read "sex workers demand safety - stop the
violence".
San Diego, CA
5PM with a moment of silence observed at 6pm
local time.
Balboa Park, The Southeast Corner of Laurel and 6the
street.
BRING CANDLES, POETRY AND SONGS TO COMMEMORATE THE
STOLEN LIVES OF THOSE MURDERED IN SEATTLE, SAN DIEGO AND AROUND THE
WORLD.
San Francisco, CA
5:30pm-7pm
Civic Center Plaza(corner of Polk and McAllister)
Candlelight
Vigil and Ceremony. Please bring candles, songs, poems, kind words and
friends. There will be an open mic for people to express their feelings.
Hosted by Annie Sprinkle, Scarlot Harlot and Robyn Few followed by a
City Hall Reception in the office of Supervisor Tom Ammiano.
Taipei, Taiwan.
4:00pm-
Long Shan Temple
Candlelight
Vigil and Ceremony. There will be poem reading, street theater
performance, and singing, to commemorate the stolen lives of those sex
workers murdered in Taiwan and around the world. This is to be followed
by the delivery of a letter to the nearby police station, to oppose
police violence against sex workers, lobbying for the decriminalization
of prostitution.
Hosted by COSWAS (Collective of Sex Workers and
Supporters), and GSRA (Gender / Sexuality Rights Association)s
Tuscon, AZ
6pm
El Tiradito Shrine
Bring
candles or altar items, and join in the moment of silence followed by
words or prayers or thoughts by whomever is so inclined.
Washington DC
Dusk
Dupont Circle
Candle
at dusk and sitting at the Dupont Circle fountain, to pause a moment in
prayer and meditation for the Green River women and all of us. Loraine
Hutchins, Ph.D. Washington, DC Sexologist Extraordinaire www.lorainehutchins.com
Vancouver,
5:30 PM
Vancouver Public Art Gallery (Hornby and Robson Steps)
JOIN VANCOUVER’S SEX WORKERS AND ALLIES BRING
A CANDLE AND NOISE MAKERS! MORE INFORMATION: CALL PACE AT (604) 872-7651
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::
Sex Workers Outreach Project (SWOP) focuses on safety, dignity,
diversity and the changing needs of sex industry workers, to foster an
environment which enables and affirms individual choices and
occupational rights.
A Green River Memorial
We are hosting a virtual memorial to the
Green River victims. Please take moment and post your reflections and
thoughts. You can no longer add comments here...
Thank
you for producing such a beautiful memorial and for reminding us of the
needs of sex workers at risk from violence and abuse. I support your
memorial day and we'll be marking it in the UK with a mention on BBC
Radio 5. Dr Petra Boynton, London, UK http://www.drpetra.co.uk
PetraBoynton
Dr
University College London
p.boynton @ pcps.ucl.ac.uk
The
boys and girls, men and women, fags and dykes, and all those who have
ever loved any sex workers will unite in silence to demonstrate
solidarity Wednesday 17th of December @ 6:00pm. We will meet at Fifes
resort.
JohnShaw
Founder
Americans for Safe Access/Sonoma County
I
am angry! I am a woman daughter,wife,mother and friend and I AM ANGRY!
I am angry that so many woman can be killed and no one pay attention. I
am angry that any woman's pain is minimized because of others view of
her. I am angry that the life of any woman is trivialized for any
reason. All woman are life givers and life bringers... sex workers are
not an exception and I am angry that anyone can forget this fact. I am
a woman and I am angry!
Respectfully submitted in
memorial to the victims of the Green River Killer who were all
important and should be remembered, not because they died but because
they lived!
Roberta Jo Ellis
Whoa!
I Just reread the page. I thought the tribute/memorial was just the
posting of the victims photo's.I didn't realise that there will be
events in San Fran and Berkley. This is great news. I was beginning to
think people didn't care. People need to speak out against violence
against ALL women..regardless of the victims line of work. Sentencing
of Ridgway will be on the 18th of December and the Media will once
again remind us that the victims were "just prostitutes". I wish there
was a memorial here in the Seattle area..you would think?! By the
way...Opal's picture is the 5th one.
GarrettMills
Bellevue, WA
http://www.karisable.com/greenriver.htm
On
July 30 1998, I lost my friend and fellow performer, Robert Tiny
Gibson. Robert was a drag queen who also turned an occasional trick in
drag. He was stabbed 25 times after performing oral sex with a client,
John Wilson. Mr. Wilson is serving 16 years to life for the murder of
my beautiful friend Tiny. Mr. Wilson claims that he became enraged when
he found out that Robert was really a man. Apparentrly Mr. Wilson feels
that his mistakern identity somehow justified his senseless murder.
Tiny was a wonderful, warm compassionate talented performer and he is
still missed by all of us. God Bless the souls of these people who are
taken savagely and selfishly.
candyekane
musician/ sex work activist
Thank you very much for this tribute. My sister
Opal(victim #4) is still very much missed by her family.
Garrett Mills
Bellevue, WA
To
minimize the importance of the lives of these women because of their
chosen work is to condone violence in its most brutal forms. The loss
of these lives is incalcuable, not just to those who loved or knew
them, but to us all. I applaud SWOP's work and hope that everyone
reading this site will feel, as I do, that a donation to SWOP is very
worthwhile.
"I
am deeply saddened by the murders of the Seattle area sex workers, and
appalled that they continued for so long. It's important to show that
we care, and to insist on safer working conditions for the vulnerable
sex workers out there today. Please join us on Dec. 17, and participate
however you can. Together we can help stop more of these horrible hate
crimes."
Dr. Annie Sprinkle, Ph.D. - Prostitute turned sexologist.
(Drsprinkle@anniesprinkle.org)
"I
mourn the loss the loss of these beautiful, valuable women. I hope that
their deaths can help to save the lives of other women by calling our
attention to the dangerous hypocrisy we nurture in our culture
regarding the worth of women's lives. Prostitutes, sex workers,
hustlers and escorts are human beings. If society asks them to live in
secrecy and shame, if their work is criminalized, they will be looked
upon as less than human and thus targeted for violence and hatred. The
green river murders are the sad progeny of this truth. No one deserves
this brutality."
Juliana Piccillo, filmmaker
"As
founder of COYOTE/Seattle and a professional sex worker for more than
20 years, I observed the Green River Killer's unabated rampage starting
in the early '80s. It was quite obvious even then that if Ridgway's
victims had been cute college co-eds, like Bundy's victims, as opposed
to marginalized and criminalized sex workers, local law
enforcement would have exercised far more effort in bringing him to
justice. It is even more inexcusable that they cut a deal to spare his
life to simply save the county the expense of a trial that
would
exposed the deplorable lack of effort exerted during the decades that
Ridgway murdered and terrorized sex workers. It is time for sex
workers, our friends and families, to stand up and demand not only
decriminalization of sex work but equal protection under the law."
Catherine La Croix,
Founder, COYOTE/Seattle
Professional dominatrix and
former courtesan and madam
catherine.la.croix@comcast.net
"Violence
against prostitutes is violence against women. Women who are wives,
mothers, sisters, daughters. Do we countenance attacks upon them, our
wives, mothers, sisters, daughters? We do not. Profession should not
overshadow person. The rights of women (and men) who choose to become
professional sex workers, who engage in consensual, commercial
concupiscence, who exercise self-determination over their own bodies,
hearts and minds must be protected and respected."
-- Taliesin the Bard, author and part time porn
personality
www.firsttribebooks.com & www.taliesinthebard.com
“It
is unconscionable to think that Americans would continue to back laws
that would allow murderers to violate prostitutes in this way. Sex
workers should not continue to be treated as second-class citizens.
Unequal protection under the law allows people to think and operate
like the Green River killer. It is time for these laws to
change,”
Robyn Few, executive director of SWOP-USA.
"The
murder of prostitutes is an outrage against ALL women, not just sex
workers. And the attitudes that make it OK to harm, rape or murder a
prostitute are the same attitudes that make it OK to harm, rape or
murder ANY woman IF she steps out of line. It is time that women of ALL
professions and persuasions work together to decriminalize
prostitution. Only then will life be safer and saner for ALL women."
Veronica Monet
Former Prostitute
Current Sex Educator
Lifetime Whore
"This
website, memorial and subsequent activities are a tremendously
important step in demonstrating that sex workers are not second class
citizens who somehow deserved to be harmed and killed by a sadist
predator. The victims of the Green River Killer were preyed upon by a
sadist because he knew they were vulnerable. That society tends to
blame the women in prostitution, that criminalization denies resources
which may have protected these women. Women who are someone's sister,
mother, daughter, niece etc. What these women experienced was horrible
and should never have happened. A crime of this nature should never
have happened. I believe this memorial and subsequent events are a
major step in ending violence against sex workers, in breaking the
myths that create the dynamics which allowed a predator like Ridgway to
operate. My deepest sympathy goes out to the victims of Gary Ridgway
and their loved ones. As an activist, I can only hope to honor their
memory by working to change society so that this never happens again.
On the days that I wonder whether continuing as an activist is
worthwhile, this memorial reminds me of how important the work of all
activists are so that this sort of tragedy never happens again."
Jill Leighton, Executive Director, National Trainer
STORM, Project Prosper
© 2003
SWOP-USA. All rights reserved. SWOP-USA would like to acknowledge SWOP
Australia for their contributions and use of any imagery.
Your financial support of
SWOP-USA makes this important work possible.
Sex Workers Outreach Project USA
2930 Shattuck Ave Suite 200-22
Berkeley, CA 94705
(877) 776-2004
(877) PRO-2004
E-mail: info@swop-usa.org
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