Legalizing Sex Work: Where the 2020 Democratic Candidates Stand

With the first candidates’ debate of the 2020 Democratic race for the party’s nomination now only two weeks away, marking the beginning of the campaign in earnest, the online site Vice examined where the candidates stand on one issue that appears rather unlikely to come up at the debate: the decriminalization of sex work. While the site did not survey all 24 of the declared Democratic presidential candidates, it did reach 16 of them—finding only four willing to take a clear stand in favor of sex work decriminalization. And of those four, only two can be considered “major” candidates with even a faint hope of competing for the nomination. Those two are California Senator Kamala Harris and New Jersey Senator Cory Booker. As AVN.com reported in February, Harris appeared to have heard the concerns of sex workers who criticized her for her support of the supposed anti-sex trafficking FOSTA bill, and her opposition in 2015 as California’s attorney general to a lawsuit against the state that sought to throw out laws against prostitution on the grounds of privacy and free expression. Harris in February said that she supported decriminalization only when sex work occurs between “consensual adults,” saying “we can’t criminalize consensual behavior as long as no one is being harmed.” When he was asked by BuzzFeed, which did a similar survey last month, Booker stated, “Yes, sex work should be decriminalized.” The only other two candidates willing to take a stand in favor of sex work decriminalization were Hawaii congressional rep Tulsi Gabbard and 89-year-old former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel—who served in the Senate from 1969 to 1981, and also ran briefly for president in 2008. Gravel this time around is running essentially as a protest candidate and does not register even 1 percent support in most polls. The 38-year-old Gabbard has served in Congress representing Hawaii since 2013. In 2016 she became one of the most prominent and outspoken supporters of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders in his run for the nomination against Hillary Clinton. But this time, Gabbard is running against Sanders. She differs from Sanders, and most of the candidates, on the sex work issue, saying, “If a consenting adult wants to engage in sex work, that is their right, and it should not be a crime. All people should have autonomy over their bodies and their labor.” Sanders, when he was asked about sex work decriminalization, was flatly noncommittal, saying, “That’s a good question, and I don’t have an answer for that.” Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden has offered no public position on sex work decriminalization, and did not respond to an inquiry from Vice on the issue. Of the candidates currently serving in the Senate or House of Representatives, all voted in favor of the FOSTA “sex trafficking” bill, as AVN.com has previously covered. Former Texas congressional rep Beto O’Rourke also voted in favor of FOSTA. Photos By Gage Skidmore / Lorie Shaull / Wikimedia Commons