Sex Worker Advocacy Group Calls for a Stop to Super Bowl-Related Raids

Noting that “non-profits are again using myths of forced labor in the sex trade as cover for harassment and arrest of sex workers,” the STRC also warned that “news agencies should beware false claims made by celebrity football players and law enforcement during prostitution raids.”

“The Stop the Raids Committee 2024 calls for the halt of harmful prostitution arrests and street sweeps under the guise of stopping sex trafficking and advises the news media to beware the claims made by celebrities, their charities and law enforcement used to justify them,” the STRC said in their announcement.

As YNOT has previously reported, there’s a paucity of data in support of claims that an increase in sex trafficking occurs in Super Bowl host cities, just as there’s no data to support the commonly held belief that there’s a spike in domestic violence on the day of the Super Bowl itself. Unfortunately, this lack of supporting data does little to stem the flow of these false claims being made on an annual basis.

“Every year, police departments use long-debunked claims of sex trafficking at the Super Bowl to justify mass arrests of sex workers and clients,” STRC observed in their announcement. “During these periods, in an effort to secure positive press coverage and more funding, police have used entrapment of sex workers, alongside misleading phrases like ‘Human Trafficking Operation’ to disguise the fact that almost no arrests ever involve trafficking.”

As the STRC observed in announcing the upcoming protest, these annual raids “are violent and dangerous” for sex workers.

“Sex workers in Las Vegas and elsewhere routinely suffer assault, harassment and abuse at the hands of law enforcement,” STRC said. “This year, the issue is even more prominent, as numerous NFL stars have allied themselves with the Christian ‘anti-trafficking’ organization Operation Underground Railroad — an organization whose founder, Tim Ballard, has been accused of by multiple women of sexual assault, some of which took place during his supposed ‘raids.’”

Suzette Rasmussen, an attorney representing the alleged victims of anti-trafficking activist Tim Ballard, noted the irony of the NFL partnering with Operation Underground Railroad, given the allegations made against Ballard.

“It is disappointing that the NFL, which has a history of problematic behavior by some of its players against women, would allow players to represent two organizations that are synonymous with sex assaults against women,” Rasmussen said.

In the announcement, STRC demanded an end to the “dangerous and damaging raids by law enforcement,” adding that adults “should have the right to not have their private, consensual sexual activities criminalized.”

“We welcome the chance to talk with the public and media about the truth behind the raids,” STRC added.

For more information, including details of the STRC’s “public and media education action” coming up on February 5, go to StopTheRaids.org.