News Round-Up: July 16, 2019

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New York: Lawmakers Hope To Decriminalize Sex Work

(stock photo)

Buoyed by the election of more progressive lawmakers in New York state, a group of legislators are hoping to decriminalize sex work.

First-term state Sen. Julia Salazar and Jessica Ramos are working with Assemblyman Richard Gottfried on a bill that would not legalize but decriminalize sex work.

Working with Decrim NY, a coalition of local human rights activists including LGBTQ, immigration and justice reform advocates, the lawmakers hope to “decriminalize, decarcerate and destigmatize the sex trade in New York City and the state,” according to The Daily Beast.

According to Urban Institute, a 2007 study in New York showed LGBTQ youth were 7 times more likely to have traded sex for shelter than straight teens. Transgender teens were shown to be 8 times more likely

“Trying to stop adult sex work shouldn’t be the business of the criminal justice system,” said Gottfried at a press event on Monday. “Throughout history, it hasn’t worked, and it makes things worse, Decriminalizing adult sex work is harm reduction.”

State Sen. Salazar is actually the first political candidate to campaign and win on a platform that included sex workers’ rights.

“The climate of fear of intimidation caused by criminalizing sex work makes it very difficult for sex workers to seek any kind of redress for labor issues or to report the various kinds of abuse many endure in silence,” said the 27-year-old legislator at the launch event Monday. “Sex work is work, and we need to start treating it as such.”

Part of the focus of the legislation will be to clear prostitution charges from sex workers records and have them released from jail.

A transgender woman who has done sex work, Cecilia Gentili, addressed the crowd of about 150 people on Monday.

“It feels surreal to be talking about this,” said Gentili, reports HuffPost. “As a transgender woman who did sex work, I have experienced oppression and prejudice from the police, immigration authorities and even social service organizations because I was trading sex.” 

“Until we decriminalize sex work, the people most impacted by criminalization ― trans people, people of color and undocumented people ― will continue to be treated as less than the full humans they are.” 

In November, Democrats were able to take control of all three branches of state government. And so, for the first time, the issue of sex workers’ rights moved from being a taboo issue to a mainstream issue.

The three lawmakers already have support from other legislators including Assemblymembers Catalina Cruz and Dan Quart.

Former Oklahoma State Chair For Trump Campaign Ordered To Pay $125K In Restitution To Child Sex Victim

Former OK state Sen. Ralph Shortey

Former Oklahoma state Sen. Ralph Shortey, who was busted for child sex trafficking, has been ordered to pay more than $125,000 in restitution to his victim.

Shortey, who served as Donald Trump’s state campaign chair in 2016, was arrested in March 2017 after police found him with a 17-year-old boy in a motel room in Moore, Oklahoma. Police found marijuana and condoms on the premises at the time of the arrest.

An affidavit from one of the police investigators revealed text messages between the teen and Shortey showed the former 'family values' lawmaker was looking to pay the boy for sex.

(click image to enlarge - warning: mature language)

Shortey pleaded guilty to one count of child sex trafficking in November 2017 in exchange for three child pornography charges being dropped. He’s currently serving a 15 year prison sentence in Texas.

Although federal prosecutors requested $535,000 in restitution to be paid to the victim, the judge has ordered Shortey pay $125,850.

Shortey does not have the right to appeal the judgment.

According to local news station KFOR, the original $535K figure sought by prosecutors was “to include mental, psychiatric and psychological treatment along with the victim’s estimated lost income resulting from Shortey’s offense.”

The prosecutors pointed out in their motion that the victim “did not complete high school, largely because of the trauma and victimization caused by the defendant.”

The majority of the requested restitution, $410,000, was to offset lost future income as the Social Security Administration calculates a lifetime loss of approximately $410,000 for individuals who don’t finish high school.

But the judge disregarded that argument as speculative since the boy had obtained his GED.

Shortey’s attorney, Ed Blau, told KFOR he felt the judgment was fair, although the victim won’t receive the majority of the funds anytime soon.

“By statute, my client was ordered to pay $125,000 immediately,” said Blau. “Obviously, he’s incarcerated - he’s not going to be able to do that, so what they will do is they’ll take a certain amount off his books each month.”

(h/t KFOR)

GOP State Senator Offered Teen Cash For "Sexual Stuff"

Oklahoma state Sen. Ralph Shortey

More details on the developing story of Donald Trump supporter Oklahoma state Sen. Ralph Shortey's prostitution charges after being found in a motel with a teenage boy.

The state senator has been charged with soliciting a minor for prostitution, prostitution within 1000 feet of a church and transporting someone for prostitution.

From The Oklahoman:

Details about electronic communications between Shortey and the teenager were captured on the teenager's Kindle tablet that was taken into evidence, police said.

The conversation started with the boy asking Shortey, "Is there anything I can help you do some cash?"

Shortey, using the screen name "Jamie Tilley," responded: "How much you needing?"

"I need money for spring break," the boy answered.

"Tilley" responded, "I don't really have any legitimate things I need help right now. Would you be interested in 'sexual' stuff?"

Police were told the teenage boy had a history of drug abuse and "soliciting himself on Craigslist for sexual conduct."

Police launched the investigation after being called by the boy's father, who had been contacted by his son's girlfriend.

She told police that her boyfriend had said he was "going to get paid tonight," and she feared he might be "involved in illegal drugs."

The girl told investigators she watched him get into a white Jeep Grand Cherokee with a man and she followed them to a Moore Super 8, where they went inside Room 120.

Officers reported smelling marijuana as they approached the room and knocked on the door.

Shortey was Donald Trump's state campaign chairman during the GOP primary season.

According to the report, the teen and Shortey had been texting each other for over a year.

The Oklahoma state Senate voted unanimously to suspend almost all of Shortey's privileges as a lawmaker including scraping his name off his office door and painting over his name at his parking space.

However, he can still vote on the floor of the Senate, and continues to draw his monthly salary of $3,200 plus benefits.

Oklahoma Police Recommend 3 Prostitution Charges For GOP State Senator

Oklahoma state Sen. Ralph Shortey with Donald Trump Jr.
(pic via Facebook)

Police in Moore, Oklahoma, are recommending 3 prostitution-related charges against Sen. Ralph Shortey, who was found in a motel room alone with an underage teen.

Those charges include soliciting prostitution of a minor, prostitution within 1000 feet of a church and transporting for the purpose of prostitution.

Employees at the Motel 8 in Moore say a person by the name of "Ralph Allen Shortey" checked in on March 9 around 12:20AM, and asked for a room with two beds.

Just 30 minutes later, the employee said that police arrived at the motel in response to a “welfare check” and discovered the juvenile male and an adult male in the same room.

Text messages between Shortey and the teen are being investigated.

Shortey, who has been married to his high school sweetheart since 2002, was the state chair of President Donald Trump’s campaign during the primary season.

Pam Pollard of the Oklahoma Republican Party has issued the following statement:

“The Oklahoma Republican Party takes all accusations against elected officials seriously, especially when the welfare of a minor is involved. We have reached out to Senator Shortey for comment and have not heard back from him at this time. We await the report from law enforcement on whether charges will be filed.”

(source)

Putin Doubts Trump Used Russian Prostitutes "Although Ours Are Undoubtedly The Best In The World"

President-elect Donald Trump's bestie, Russian President Vladimir Putin, has no problem defending him against the recent unsubstantiated rumors floated in an "intelligence dossier" recently.

Putin says he doubts Trump ever utilized Russian prostitutes, "although ours are undoubtedly the best in the world.”

Via Bloomberg:

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he doesn’t believe that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump met with prostitutes in Russia, calling the accusations part of a campaign to undermine the election result.

Unsubstantiated allegations made against Trump are “obvious fabrications,” Putin told reporters in the Kremlin on Tuesday. “People who order fakes of the type now circulating against the U.S. president-elect, who concoct them and use them in a political battle, are worse than prostitutes because they don’t have any moral boundaries at all,” he said.

Putin said that Trump wasn’t a politician when he visited Moscow in the past and Russian officials weren’t aware that he held any political ambitions. It’s “complete nonsense” to believe that Russian security services “chase after every American billionaire,” he said.

Trump is “a grown man, and secondly he’s someone who has been involved with beauty contests for many years and has met the most beautiful women in the world,” Putin said. “I find it hard to believe that he rushed to some hotel to meet girls of loose morals, although ours are undoubtedly the best in the world.”

Bolding is mine. Here's video of the statement. The issue of "girls of loose morals" comes up at the 3:45 mark.

Hate Group Leader: Obama Is Setting Up A Way For Courts To Legalize Prostitution

Bryan Fischer

Hate group leader Bryan Fischer hypothesizes (in his cyncial, bizarro world logic) that the real reason for the raid on the corporate offices of Rentboy is to set up a complex set of events that would lead to President Obama fighting for legalizing prostitution.

From Fischer's essay:  

So the question naturally is why. Why would Obama suddenly bring the hammer down on homosexual prostitution?

Maybe, in the wake of the Ashley Madison hack, he wants to get all the client information from this website in federal custody to protect the identities of his political and social friends who may be customers.

Or Obama believes, with homosexuality being the flavor of the year in the world of sexual abnormality, this is the moment to haul homosexual prostitutes into court and get some federal judge somewhere to rule that prostitution cannot be made illegal under the United States Constitution.

With no prayer of getting a bill legalizing prostitution through Congress, his best hope is the court system.

And his best chance to get the favorable ruling he wants, given the current cultural zeitgeist, is if the defendants in courts are homosexual prostitutes rather than heterosexual ones. What politically correct judge today would dare to rule against the sin of sodomy anywhere at anytime?

In other words, Obama is pursuing this action not because he wants to punish homosexual prostitutes but because he wants the Supreme Court to exonerate them.

Obama knows that this action will be challenged in court, and that when the appeal makes it to the Supreme Court, he can count on the Court’s five homosexual activists to rule that laws against money for sex are antiquated, outmoded, and so 18th century.

And poof, the last vestige of moral standards with regard to adult sexuality will be gone.

In other words, Bryan Fischer has now completely lost his mind.

(h/t JMG)

Rentboy Offices Raided, Seven Arrested For Promoting Prostitution

The male escort website Rentboy found it's NYC offices raided today in a sting operation that saw millions of dollars across several accounts seized and 7 people, including CEO Jeffrey Hurant, arrested and charged with conspiring to violate the Travel Act by promotion prostitution.

From The Gaily Grind:

The Rentboy site advertises itself as “the world’s destination to meet the perfect male escort or masseur,” and boasts a database of more than 10,500 men in more than 2,100 cities worldwide.

Escorts pay the site up to several hundred dollars to advertise their ‘services’ and customers pay a monthly subscription fee of $59.95, according to the criminal complaint. Founded in 1997, Rentboy is the first and largest website to focus on male escorts and their Twitter page says, “Money can’t buy you love but everything else is negotiable.”

Between 2010 and 2015, the website had more than $10 million in gross proceeds according to NBCNY.

“As alleged, Rentboy attempted to present a veneer of legality, when in fact this Internet brothel made millions of dollars from the promotion of illegal prostitution,” Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Kelly Currie said in a statement.

Poll: Nevada Republicans support brothels by 66%, marriage for gays and lesbians 20%

I think this is truly the definition of hypocrisy.

You know how conservatives have a big problem with marriage equality for gays and lesbians because of their deeply religious beliefs?  Get this...

A new Public Policy Polling poll finds that brothels enjoy popular support across all political parties in Nevada, including 66 percent of both Democrats and Republicans.

A March poll found that only 20 percent of Nevada Republicans support same-sex marriage, a juxtaposition that PPP described as “an interesting take on family values.”

Nevada’s brothels have no legal restrictions on sexual orientation, so according to the state’s Republicans, it’s okay if gays and lesbians pay for sex, just so long as they don’t settle down and start families.

(Via ThinkProgress)