By Mike Strobel
The Sun
March 22nd 2007
Ah, yes, the world’s oldest discussion.
What to do about the hookers among us.
Let’s retire to the St. Lawrence Community Rec Centre on The Esplanade downtown.
Technically, I suppose, the Adult Lounge above the pool is a common bawdy house for an hour or so.
Milling about are hookers, ex-hookers, a dominatrix, lawyers and newshounds. Your basic social lepers.
I sit with Wendy Babcock, 27, who earns tuition for feminism studies at George Brown in unconventional ways.
“Lawyers are the worst,” she once told me, recounting how a legal eagle tipped her a twoonie, then snatched it back for TTC fare.
There are lawyers on her online “bad date” list.
But they have other uses. Sometimes, they can right wrongs.
Which is why Osgoode law Prof. Alan Young and his motley crew of crusaders have called this press conference.
They are challenging our silly and dangerous laws on prostitution.
But wait, you exclaim. Prostitution is legal, right?
You bet your latex boots it is. Paying to get laid, flayed, or otherwise depraved is perfectly legit.
The trick, pardon the expression, is in Criminal Code edicts on business conduct.
One. Bawdy house law prevents hookers from bedding clients in a regular, safe haven, such as their home.
Two. They can’t “communicate for the purpose of prostitution,” which means scant screening of clients.
Says Young: “When you get into a car, how do you tell if you’re being picked up by the Green River Killer or a customer who will show you respect?”
Three. “Living on the avails” is illegal. Pimps, sure, but also drivers, bodyguards, roommates. The cat?
“Even Mary Poppins couldn’t work for a sex trade worker,” says Young.
Chim chiminey. Chim chim cher-oo!
What’s a hooker to do?
Our law lets her ply her trade, but helps make it perilous.
“There is nothing inherently dangerous about prostitution,” says Sex Professionals of Canada director Val Scott.
“The laws force us to operate in totally unsafe conditions.”
Scott’s name is on the motion filed Tuesday by Young, 50, and a team of student volunteers in Ontario superior court. First date is May 31. All pro bono.
It challenges the three laws as “arbitrary.” As in, they do far more harm than good and safety ought to outweigh moral issues.
Co-litigants are Terri Jean Bedford, 47, the famous Bondage Bungalow dominatrix, forced to retire by a liver ailment.
She’s in a black suit and mid-thigh boots. Say, what’s with the riding crop?
“To punish newsmen.”
You’ll have to wait in line.
The only place Ms Bedford felt safe was her dungeon, ’til the bawdy house law dragged her out of there by her bootstraps.
She still has a tender back from a client’s kick years ago.
Still, she tells us, Toronto is an “S&M and fetish capital of the world.” Finally. We’re world-class.
The court challenge, aka The Safe Haven Initiative, says Terri, is “a great day for Canadian women everywhere.”
Like third litigant, Amy Lebovitch, 28. “We are entitled to work safely with dignity and respect,” she says.
I wish someone would save them, and the courts, the trouble. I wish the feds would clean up these goofy, creaky laws.
Analogies abound. Like: Your SUV is legal, but you’re not allowed to wear a seatbelt, use turn signals, or park.
Unsafe. Stupid.
“Imagine,” says second-year student Ehsan Ghebrai, 24, “having to go to work not knowing if you’ll be subjected to some of the most horrific violence imaginable.”
In a year of research for this, Ghebrai and a dozen other students found countless tales of rape, assaults and beatings.
And murder, of course. The Pickton case comes to mind. Other cases are brewing in Alberta, in Niagara, and in our own city.
Let’s get real. No matter what you think of prostitution, it’s here to stay and it’s legal.
Let’s at least make it safer.