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By Allen Roskoff
Friday, July 04, 2008
If you are running for higher office and hungry for press, what do you do? You hold a press conference about sex. Then you add little children to the mix and you can count on a story in the tabloids.
Councilmember Eric Gioia recently did just that. Gioia and his staff explored the online personals ads on Craig's List and declared, “I was shocked by what I found.” Eric, have you been living in a monastery? Gioia went on to say, “What used to happen on seedy street corners and brothels has now moved to the Internet.” After Gioia caught his breath, he decided that this would destroy civilization and cause pedophilia.
Previously Eric fought to keep working women off the street in Long Island City, and now he is going after them on Craig's List. Is he obsessed?
I called Eric to discuss the matter and he maintains that Craig's List could lead to child abuse.
I responded that:
1. Craig's List is intended for use by consenting adults.
2. You log on by choice.
3. If a rare case involved a minor, there would be computer records to seek out the offender.
I find the argument about protecting children disingenuous, pandering and hysterical. There are so many ways children can be exploited in today's society but Craig's List is hardly one of them.
If you want to fight pedophilia, you could start by closing down some Catholic churches (actually not a bad idea).
Gioia then played the class card in his fight against escort ads on Craig's List: poor woman are driven into prostitution via the web. I asked him if Elliot Spitzer's escort looked like a poor woman? I also told him that most of the male prostitutes I know enjoy having sex with the men and do it out of choice. Others certainly prefer it to a desk job or flipping burgers at Burger King. Many are students or aspiring actors or models.
No one is being forced to go on Craig's List. It is an individual's choice; it is an agreement between consenting adults. I, for one, believe that liberated people can do as they wish with their bodies, a cornerstone of advocacy on behalf of reproductive rights.
Eric offered to take me to a women's shelter where prostitutes have taken refuge to escape the life. I said that he would find many more shelters for women battered by their husbands or boyfriends.
Perhaps we need to ban opposite sex marriage (hmm, also not a bad idea).
Lots of women are subjected to abuse at their jobs, from nannies and housekeepers to factory workers, but no one is calling for an end to those forms of employment. So why should anyone be trying to close down Craig's List simply because it is being used as a market place where consenting adults can hook up for money. I might expect some right wing southern Republicans to latch onto an issue like this but even they haven't because it would be seen as a cheap media ploy.
Prostitution is the world's oldest profession.
Yes, it is illegal but so was sodomy for half my lifetime and I broke that law as often as possible. Back in the 1970s, politicians were coming down to the Gay Activists Alliance asking for support from self-confessed law-breaking sodomites. And yes, I believe advocacy for sex workers is a gay issue. The gay liberation movement was found to fight for civil rights and sexual liberation. I should know—I was there from the start.
Eric, if you want to pander to what you decided is your constituency for higher office, why not start a group called “ambitious politicians for morality”?
In another shameless play for press exposure, Eric is demanding that sex offenders be declared ineligible to live in city housing after release from prison. Sorry, Eric, but once you have served your time you should be able to come home to your partner or spouse and other relatives. People who are released from prison deserve a fair chance for recovery.
Recovering sex addicts need support, not isolation, from their loved ones. Forcing someone to stay away from a wife, husband or parent who waited years to get into city housing is not conducive to rehabilitation into a productive, law-abiding citizen. In fact, forced homelessness is only more likely to cause more crime, devastation and needless human misery.
In my opinion, this proposal is cruel and heartless.
And just today Eric is in the press again insisting that the city should cut off electricity on foreign officials who dodge property-tax bills, and he urged the state to yank licenses and tow cars if the owners are more than $5,000 in the hole on parking tickets. Great idea, let's undercut the fundamental notion of diplomatic immunity that protects our embassies and consulates throughout the world over $5,000 of unpaid parking tickets.
Maybe we could start another war.
Eric, if want to get some good press, then here is an idea. The New York Post reports that Deputy Mayor Kevin Sheekey sat down with a former Republican lawmaker, Ray Meier, asking him to consider running the State Republican Party.
The meeting took place July 1 inside City Hall. I believe it’s illegal to use government offices to promote blatantly partisan politics. Eric, as Chair of the Oversight and Investigations Committee of the City Council, why don't you investigate this matter? The Mayor's insistent support for the Republican Party certainly hurts the interests of the LGBT community, and his office's misuse of public offices is most likely illegal.
Allen Roskoff is a longtime gay rights activist and co-author and lobbyist for the nation’s first gay civil rights bill. He is now president of the citywide Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club. He can be reached at aroskoff@aol.com.
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