FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 2, 2018
Illinois Green Party
Secretary@ILGP.org

Green Party Rejects Sex Work Decriminalization Platform Plank; Doubles Down on "Nordic Model"

Proposal authored by Green Party sex workers fails to pass: "That's it for me" says one.

USA – At the close of voting on Sunday, a proposal to change the Green Party of the United States (GPUS) platform position on voluntary sex work to a decriminalization stance failed to pass. The party will retain its current platform language, which conflates voluntary sex work with human trafficking and calls for the "Nordic model" of criminalization. 

Although a majority of delegates on the 160-member National Committee supported the move to a decriminalization stance, the 73-66 vote fell short of the 2/3 threshold, with 6 delegates casting an "abstain" vote and 15 non-voting delegates. 

Sex worker members who helped draft the proposal reacted with disappointment, and with rejection of the party: "That's pretty much it for me," said a Chicago-based sex worker and Green Party member who wished to be identified only as T. "The Nordic model means my life right now is illegal. If that's the Green Party position on what my life should be, I don't want to be a Green." 

The Nordic model has been criticized by sex workers, researchers, and health officials for increasing the risks of sex work and for treating mutual aid and support between sex workers (such as sharing room costs or client lists) as "pimping." 

Decriminalization is widely recommended as a policy position on sex work by health and human rights groups that have studied the issue, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the ACLU, Anti-Slavery International and the Trafficking Policy Research Project, and by health organizations such as UNAIDS and the World Health Organization. Green Parties and elected Greens in other countries, including Brazil, Germany, France, Austria, Ukraine, Canada, England & Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand, support decriminalization as well

Discussion on the GPUS National Committee (which does all official business via a roughly 350-member email listserv open to delegates and their appointed alternates) was dominated by a handful of "no" voices. More than a quarter of all messages related to the proposal during the mandatory four-week discussion period (roughly 150 posts and over 50 new email threads above and beyond the official discussion thread) came from three members opposed to the proposal, all white men with no experience in the sex industry.

The Illinois Green Party was one of five states co-sponsoring the measure, along with the party's Youth and LGBTQ+ caucuses.

The Green Party's decision means that the Libertarian Party will remain the only major United States political party to support sex work decriminalization (neither the Democrat nor Republican Party platforms address the issue). 

The full roll call of the vote follows. For further information, contact the Illinois Green Party Secretary at secretary@ilgp.org or 773-809-4547.

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