LOS ANGELES—A group of activists will take to the streets of downtown Las Vegas on June 2nd, where they will march on behalf of the rights of sex workers on International Whores Day 2018.
What started as a grassroots effort to provide a platform for sex workers everywhere to voice the need for legislative reform surrounding the consensual sex industry, the IWD March & Rally is continuing its annual tradition of raising awareness this year with renewed energy and focus.
Organized by Maitresse Madeline Marlowe, ana and Rebel Rae, the starting point for the IWD March is the Llama Lot N. 10th in Vegas, where participants will meet at 9 a.m. The march to the Federal Courthouse will commence at 10 a.m. with a rally and special guest speakers scheduled for 11.
The group will be advocating for the full decriminalization of sex work, protesting the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) and the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) and building solidarity within the sex worker community.
Marlowe is a sex worker and activist whose advocacy work began with lobbying against Prop 60 and AB1576 in California for the porn industry; ana is an anti-capitalist community organizer and advocate for the full decriminalization of prostitution; Rae is a tech-savvy prostitute who uses her skills to provide safety tools for sex workers while also fighting to decriminalize prostitution.
“I got inspired for this march and rally back in December, when I met ana through a loved mutual friend,” Rae told AVN.
“They caught wind of some anti-prostitution panel using the trafficking rhetoric and we crashed it together and provided some education/public embarrassment to the panelists and realized how closely we synchronize.”
Rae continued, “It's all kinda snowballed since then. We met Madeline while we were organizing the sex workers at the Women's March and the three of us just fuel each other. We're hosting panels, doing political outreach, networking with other passionate sex workers and building bridges for our peers.
“FOSTA was something we couldn't have stopped and it's provided the kick in the ass many workers needed to start applying their skills and time to the call of decriminalization. We're using the event to gain a lot of visibility and empower other sex workers to stand up and fight for labor recognition and civil rights we're absolutely being denied as powerful industrials. We specifically try to reach the general public to show us in a new light that isn't stigmatized by trashy Hollywood classist influence. We're demanding rights and an end to mass incarceration and witch hunting.”
Adult star Amber Ivy, who recently moved from LA to Vegas, told AVN she was pleasantly surprised with the amount of sex worker interest in the March.
“We’re really using it as a platform to get the word out,” Ivy said. “We have sex workers of all types—strippers, escorts, porn stars—everyone in our group has their own thing going on. It’s really diversified.”
The native of Cleveland, who debuted in adult in Burning Angel’s How the Grinch Gaped Christmas in late 2014, said she’s getting acclimated to Vegas.
“I think I like the community out here,” Ivy said. “It’s slower. I’m from the Midwest—it’s not as crazy as LA for the most part. I think I’ve become a little more picky.”
She said that while FOSTA has already begun to have some adverse affects on the sex worker community that it remains to be seen how much the law will impact adult.
“Everyone knows it’s not just directed at sex trafficking and children that are being trafficked. It's crazy that some of these sites are being shut down,” said Ivy, who noted her group would be passing out pamphlets at the March.
“Even personal websites can be taken down. We just really don’t know what they’re going to seize. This is really important to me because I think the censorship is ridiculous. I shoot porn and I’m a stripper sometimes. What I do is legal but I have a lot of friends that have been affected by this and it sucks.”
Ivy said the marchers would wear red—their symbol is a red umbrella—and use the social media hashtag #LetUsSurvive.
For more information and to donate to the Las Vegas IWD March, click here.
