City Council Members Declined to Make WeHo the Sole Sponsor of a Sex-Worker Task Force (WeHoVille)

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City Councilmember John Duran got pushback from his fellow Council members last night over his proposal that the city sponsor a sex worker task force. Duran’s proposal would have had the City Manager appoint members of the task force, including experts in the field of sex work, people with experience as sex workers and representatives from the city’s Transgender Advisory Board, Public Safety Commission, and Human Services Commission. The task force would be asked to develop a report on abuse and exploitation of sex workers and what can be done to prevent that. Duran’s proposal provided a wide definition of sex workers. “Sex workers are female, male and transgender adults who have consensual sex in exchange for money or goods, either regularly or occasionally,” said the proposal. “Sex work may or may not involve physical contact. Under this definition, sex workers include (but are not limited to): escorts, strippers, professional dominants and submissives, fetish and fantasy performers, erotic massage providers, sex surrogates, phone sex operators, porn performers, and more.” None of the City Council members opposed the idea of exploring ways to stop the abuse and exploitation of sex workers. However, they questioned what role the city should play.