Did you know that you can be arrested for carrying condoms in New York City? This outrageous fact comes courtesy of a Vice article about the NYPD’s criteria for identifying potential sex workers. In practice, not just anyone is targeted by the police for such arrests.
But say you’re a sex worker or a queer kid kicked out of your home. Say you’re a trans woman out for dinner with your boyfriend. Maybe you’ve been arrested as a sex worker before. Maybe some quota-filling cop thinks you look like a whore.
Then you’re not safe at all.
The article points out that New York City distributes free condoms to promote safe sex, but also uses them as evidence for arrests. How can the same city punish people for trying to protect their own health? A proposed law to ban the use of condoms as evidence by police and prosecutors was introduced in 1999, but hasn’t gotten enough support. Advocates for the rights of sex workers are hoping to change that. You can find out more here.
