PROSTITUTES WANT CITY TO DECRIMINALIZE SEX INDUSTRY

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Prostitutes on Tuesday launched a petition drive
urging city officials to decriminalize the sex industry, a move called for
in a study that said it could save more than $7 million a year in law
enforcement costs.

Nedra Ruiz, a defense attorney who spoke at a morning news conference
announcing the drive, said spending money on enforcing prostitution laws is
``a total waste of municipal funds.''

``Criminal enforcement promises only one thing -- that sex workers will be
criminalized, they will be degraded by charges that can haunt them for life
and prevent them from seeking other avenues of employment other than the
sex industry,'' she said.

The 1996 study that called for stopping the prosecution of sex workers was
produced by the 29-member San Francisco Task Force on Prostitution, which
was set up in 1994 by the Board of Supervisors.

``The situation that prostitute women face internationally as sexual
outlaws is similar everywhere,'' said Nina Lopez-Jones of the International
Prostitutes Collective. ``Criminalization has brought violence,
stigmatization, exploitation, racism and other discriminations to millions
of women everywhere.''

The proposal has received support from District Attorney Terence Hallinan,
who says the Legislature would have to clear the way for San Francisco to
legalize prostitution.

Supervisor Tom Ammiano, who attended the news conference, said
decriminalizing prostitution simply means it would not be regulated by
criminal law but by other ordinances.

For instance, if a prostitute was taking drugs, laws covering that kind of
behavior would come into play, and she could be offered treatment rather
than jail time.

However, Ammiano was realistic about the prospects for decriminalization.

``I think that it's an uphill battle,'' he said, ``but this is San
Francisco and given the attitudes here, it's very possible.''