Author Archive

Letters to Everyone Who Aren’t Our Oppressors: Art and Song in the Spirit of Cecilia Gentili

May 24th, 2024 · · Art No comments - Tags: , ,

Spoken Word/Poetry/Song Competition for International Whores Day 2024

Entries are due by 11.59 pm ET on May 30, 2024

This year’s theme will be in celebration of luminary trans sex worker activist, actress, writer, and performer Cecilia Gentili who we lost on February 6th. Cecilia, an Argentine-American, was a fierce advocate for the rights of sex workers and the end of stigma around HIV/AIDS. Her beautiful life was celebrated by over a thousand people at the historic St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Feb. 15th. The Mourners loudly identified as sex workers and stormed a sanctuary to hold up the humanity of Whore Mother Cecilia. This celebration of her is perfectly reflective of the original International Whore’s Day in France in 1975.   

In loving Memory of Cecilia Gentili Jan 31 1972 - Feb 06 2024 May their legacy of love and compassion continue to inspire us each day.

If you are a sex worker/person in the sex trade and have a connection to New Jersey (live here or work here, or come from here, or have good friends here, or similar), then contribute a poem or music to the International Whores Day podcast competition by May 24, 2024. We encourage everyone to be inspired by Cecilia’s example in what is contributed, but contributions do not need to be directly about her life per se. The prompt is “dream big, just like she did.” New Jersey Red Umbrella Alliance (NJRUA) will select several of the pieces to read for our International Whores Day podcast (produced in collaboration with Moral High Ground Productions). Contributors maintain the copyright of their art and will provide permission for it to be shared on our podcast. All selected entrants will receive compensation for their participation. 

Members of NJRUA will judge the competition. The NJRUA poetry podcast will be recorded/edited by PJ Starr and N’Jaila Rhee and released on SoundCloud on June 1, 2024. The podcast builds on a tradition begun by Robyn Few, who read a poem created by her friends for International Sex Worker Rights Day in 2010. Check out our previous podcasts here:

International Sex Worker’s Day 2022

2023

2016

Contribute your poem, words, lyrics, songs, music, etc to newjerseyrua@gmail.com by May 24, 2024, by 11.59 pm Eastern. If you would like to record a reading of your poem for consideration, we can receive the recording via email or any other file transfer service you would like to use. We can also assign someone to read out submissions for the podcast if you prefer to send in text only. If poetry does not interest you, you can send us original music for consideration for the podcast, lend your voice to reading a poem, or donate to our cause. All are welcome. You may contribute anonymously (i.e. we don’t have to read any name on the podcast) or provide us with a name and short bio if you wish. Also please indicate that we have your permission to use your art/poem/words/song for our podcast. 

Good luck!

CSW68 Community-Led Parallel Sessions

March 6th, 2024 · · Events No comments

The in person session The Intersection of Trans and Sex Worker Rights: Dismantling Barriers to Equality CSW68 is organized by the Sex Workers Coalition and ILGA World on March 14 at 2.30 pm ET at the church center, second floor. This session will showcase sex worker and trans leadership from across the globe to discuss organizing strategies for addressing the pushback on trans lives. The session is moderated by Monica Jones (The Outlaw Project) and includes speakers Erika Smith (BPPP),  Beyonce Karungi (Trans Equality Uganda and BPPP) and a representative of the BSWC. Social media by NJRUA. Reserve a seat (walk ins will also be welcome): https://www.eventbrite.com/e/csw68-the-intersection-of-trans-and-sex-workers-rights-tickets-854945263297


The online session Sex Worker Rights as a Resolution to Poverty CSW68 is organized by the Sex Workers Coalition on March 18 at 2.30 pm until 4.30pm ET. Sign up here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/csw68-sex-worker-rights-as-a-resolution-to-poverty-online-tickets-857598138117 and check out the FB event page https://fb.me/e/45bwCthkH

The Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls

January 31st, 2024 · · Reports Comments Off on The Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls - Tags:

Zee Xaymaca, with the support of the BPPP co-Executive Directors, has drafted a response to the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women and Girls.

We are pleased to provide our community and human rights based input to the Special Rapporteur so that they may ‘better understand the relationship between prostitution and violence against women, to clarify terms, approaches and actions States should take in order to maintain the spirit of international human rights law and to effectively protect women and girls from all forms of violence.” The full response can be read via a downloadable PDF available here and below.

Continue reading »

AIDS2024: Munich

January 9th, 2024 · · Conferences No comments - Tags: ,

Sex workers everywhere organize to address the impact of HIV/AIDS.  Representatives and advocates for sex workers choose to attend the International AIDS Conference so that pertinent and accurate information can be provided to the sex worker community that will help in accessing resources that are needed.  As sex workers, we also attend this conference because it is one of the very few opportunities we have to network with our colleagues from all over the world and also to form new connections to learn and to inspire.  We have supported sex workers’ attendance at the International AIDS Conference for more than 20 years and are here to help our community as much as we can.

The International AIDS Conference is a very large event and can be daunting.  Sex workers have organized protests and actions about specific issues at the conference over the years and have demanded change from the conference itself.  If issues arise that you would like to address at the AIDS2024 you can email (hivaidsbppp@gmail.com) at any time and we will do our best to connect you with the information you need.

This year the International AIDS Conference will be held in Munich, Germany from July 22nd to July 26th, 2024.  The conference can be attended in person or virtually.  The AIDS2024 conference will include people living with, affected by and working with people living with HIV.  The conference will provide lessons learned for the past 40 years.  

Apply to present your work or organize a workshop at the Global Village – Applications are due January 23, 2024. The exact time applications are due on that day is unknown, so get your application in as early as possible. If you are a representative of the movement for the rights of sex workers and people in the sex work trade and need help applying please email BPPP January 13, 2023 at hivaidsbppp@gmail.com and we will try to assist you in the best way possible and/or refer you to one of our partner groups from our coalition.

Apply to present your work via an abstract submission – This process opens November 15, 2023 and closes January 23, 2024. For additional information about abstract submission contact the AIDS2024 abstract team at abstract@aids2024.org. Our community is often shut out of the main conference as abstract presenters.

Scholarships – Scholarship applications open November 15, 2023 and closes January 23, 2024.  We recommend getting your application in the day before to avoid any confusion with the AIDS2024 system closing early across time zones (many people have missed out in the past because the system closed early, don’t miss your chance to go to Munich). Applications are accepted through conference accounts only.  To create an account go to https://profile.aids2024.org/. Check out our webinar recording from 2018 with tips about how to apply and be successful. When will you hear about the outcome of your application? Scholarship recipients will be announced in early April 2024.

Want to learn more about International AIDS Conferences from the past and/or more about the ways in which sex workers are kept out or limited at this event, please check out our links from previous years.

Navigating AID2022 (first steps) by Beyonce K

Navigating AIDS2020 (first steps)

HIV2020: why? how?

Sex Workers Unite for AIDS2018