Statement of Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club In Relation to Rentboy.com and the Actions of the NYPD and the Department of Homeland Security
New York, NY, March 08, 2016 — When we heard that the NYPD and the Department of Homeland Security had come down with full force on Rentboy.com we were enraged. With no identified victims, the police raided their offices and arrested 7 of their employees. They seized their bank accounts, put 17 full time workers onto the street and put thousands of self employed escorts in fear for their livelihood, and further into the shadows of marginalization. Members of the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club were among the first to protest outside the courthouse against the charges.
Our club has always stood for sexual liberation, civil rights and aims to end all forms harassment for sexual choices between consenting adults. We see the rentboy.com raid as nothing more than a "digital" modern replay of the raids on the Stonewall Inn with the willing cooperation of the NYPD.
Sometimes we advance so far, only to find we are back facing the wall. In 2016, in an age where we have marriage equality, we want to remind the world, that there are other ways people choose to live their lives, and those choices must be respected. We cannot have the police making choices about how we share our bodies for us. We call for the immediate decriminalization of sex work, and for the DOJ to drop the unjust charges against Rentboy.com.
