A Trans Activist and Prostitute: Banning Street Prostitution and Open Drug Abuse in Seattle Will Kill People

TRANSCRIPT:

UNKNOWN: "I'm here to oppose the prostitution and loitering / SOAP bill. What this bill proposes will take away the important community and resources that we desperately need. I depend on client and gig work to pay my bills. Passing this bill will take away an essential income for me, one that I need to stay alive. Passing this bill could kill me. It will kill my friends. Criminalization never saves, it never takes away what it seeks to. This is already known, seen time and time again. All it does is cause further harm to the community it seeks to control. All this bill will do is put my friends and I at higher risk. This bill will put us in desperate situations, again, it will kill us. I need you to hear me and see me as a person. Passing this will force a crisis on me and my friends. I will not be able to earn for what I need in order to survive. I do need my work, my friends do. Don’t take away our work from us. Listen to us. Thank you."