Opinion/Giannini: Bills could allow RI to again be sex trafficking haven
Joanne Giannini is a freelance writer who served as a Providence state representative for 16 years.
Just when you think there’s hope to end the scourge of sex trafficking, there’s a new effort that would open Rhode Island’s doors once again as a safe haven for sex trafficking and human trafficking.
In October 2009, three bills passed in the state House of Representatives in a special session of the General Assembly. It took years to accomplish passage.
The first bill banned indoor prostitution by making it a misdemeanor, and defining and including perpetrators, pimps, johns and those who knowingly allow it on their premises subject to prosecution. This bill was passed to stop women, young girls and boys from being trafficked here for the purposes of sex selling. Rhode Island was the only state other than Nevada where indoor prostitution was legal, which made us a safe haven for traffickers to run illegal brothels and transport minors here for sexual exploitation.
The second bill banned the employment of minors working in the adult entertainment industry when Rhode Island had cases of underage girls being transported to adult clubs for the purpose of sex trafficking.
The third bill banned human trafficking. This bill stopped the transport of women, girls and young boys to Rhode Island for the purpose of forced sex and forced labor.
After passage, Rhode Island saw the prosecution of sex trafficking and human trafficking cases.
All three bills put a serious dent in a sex industry filled with coercion, sex, drugs and the exploitation of many young girls and boys. More than 30 illegal massage parlors in the state closed and advertising for sex services stopped in newspapers.
On March 17, five Democratic senators introduced two bills that would decriminalize prostitution and open the gates for Rhode Island to again become a safe haven for sex trafficking.
Senate Bill S2716, by Senators Tiara Mack, Kendra Anderson, Jonathon Acosta, and Jeanine Calkin, seeks to make prostitution a civil penalty crime, makes expungement more likely and takes a less punitive approach to sexually transmitted infection testing.
Senate Bill S2713, sponsored by Senators Cynthia Mendes and Calkin, decriminalizes all commercial sexual activity and indoor prostitution, including patronizing, pimping and brothel keeping. The bill also would disable police from investigation of suspected brothels and makes no limitations on where prostitution can take place.
I find it disheartening these bills were introduced. Obviously these senators, mostly women, know nothing of the history of the sexual exploitation that happened here in Rhode Island. The Providence Journal reported that Asian women were sex slaves to men in illegal brothels in Rhode Island. WJAR-10's I-Team reported the mistreatment of trafficking victims. It was documented by Providence Deputy Chief Tom Verdi, who investigated the sex industry In Providence for years.
If these new laws are passed, all the good work to prevent sex trafficking, human trafficking and sex slavery will be undone.
I introduced the three bills to ban human trafficking and indoor prostitution to stop sex and human trafficking in Rhode Island.
It’s a new and different generation of Democrats at the State House now. I became a Democrat under the leadership of Governors J. Joseph Garrahy and Bruce Sundlun, and Senators John O. Pastore and Claiborne Pell. It was a party for all the people then.
What I see now is a path to go backwards to the dark days of secrecy and a will that “anything goes.”
It could be your daughter, son, niece, grandchild, sister, brother or loved one who is the next victim. Think about that this year when you cast your vote.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Opinion/Giannini: Bills could allow RI to again be sex trafficking haven
