Tag Archives: criminalizing condoms

Update on NYS Bill A2736

A while ago, I wrote a short post about a piece of legislation in New York that would prevent police and prosecutors from using the presence of condoms as evidence of prostitution. The State Assembly session is almost over and that bill, A2736, still has not been brought to the floor.

Here’s what Red Umbrella Project has to say:

We need help from New Yorkers to get the bill to pass the Assembly before the end of session (which is tomorrow). Here are two calls you can make that really  make a difference. Each will take less than a minute:

Call Speaker Sheldon Silver’s office to urge him to put bill A2736 to a vote on the floor! The number is 518-455-3791

We are confident that we have the votes to pass the bill  once it is on the floor, but we need to MAKE SURE so please call your  Assemblymember and ask them to VOTE YES on A2736! You can find the info  for your Assemblymember here. Call your representative’s Albany office.

I have already made both calls, and I encourage you to do the same. NYC Department Health and Mental Hygiene distributes free condoms all over NYC free of charge. The Center for Disease Control even highlights that program as an example of a structural level intervention. This bill would prevent police and prosecutors in NYC and all over NYS from undoing the work of many government and nonprofit groups across the state.

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Here, there, and everywhere: when policing practices don’t line up with public good

The NYPD’s Stop and Frisk practices have garnered much attention recently, and rightly so. There have been a bunch of videos of men of color talking about their experiences with Stop and Frisk in NYC. The Open Society Justice Initiative just put out a video that covers the equivalent in Britain. Here’s the full report: Viewed with Suspicion: The Human Cost of Stop and Search in England and Wales.

Last year Open Society Foundations’ Public Health Project put out Criminalizing Condoms, an amazingly strong report comparing policing practices regarding the criminalization of condoms in Kenya, Namibia, Russia, South Africa, the United States, and Zimbabwe. There was also a good video that accompanied it and included the voices of people directly affected.

It’s good to remember that our policing problems in the United States are not unique. It’s also sad since this really hurts people and communities and it would be far better if nowhere had these problems. Even with Stop and Frisk, we in New York City are not isolated as people working on the issue may sometimes feel.

On a happier note, last week’s lobbying to support bill S1379/A2736 in Albany reported went well. Bill S1379/A2736 would ban the use of condoms as evidence of sex work in New York State. Red Umbrella Project has more information available here.

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