This commentary is by Savannah Sly. She was raised in Orange County, where she continues to live and work. Savannah is the founder and co-director of New Moon Network, a national organization dedicated to advancing the rights and welfare of people in the sex trade.
Vermonters, ask yourselves: Are you …
An unmarried individual who has had sex with another consenting adult?
A married couple who has engaged in nonmonogamy?
A landlord who knowingly allows unmarried adults to have sex in your rentals?
An artist who has created erotic works in an art studio?
An adult who has created and sold adult media on a platform such as OnlyFans?
If you answered “yes” to any of the above questions, you are guilty of violating prostitution laws in Vermont. That’s right, engaging in “indiscriminate sex” is a prosecutable offense defined as prostitution in our brave little state. It’s also illegal to “occupy a place, structure or building for purposes of prostitution, lewdness or assignation” or to knowingly allow another person to engage in such acts in a building that you own. These crimes are punishable with up to one year of imprisonment for a first offense and up to three years for a second offense.
If you think these outdated sex laws sound outrageous, that’s because they are. The current Vermont statutes governing sex defines us all as prostitutes breaking the law unless we are married and monogamous. Landlords renting to anyone except monogamous married couples (and sexually inactive people) are violating prostitution laws as well.
These laws may seem laughable to many, but for those of us who have been affected by moral panic, the prospect of state overreach into our bedrooms is vivid and real, especially for women, LGBTQ+ people and actual sex workers. Just because an archaic law hasn’t recently been enforced doesn’t mean it won’t be.
Across the country we are witnessing a well funded, determined anti-sex strategy eroding our human rights as adults. Under these circumstances, it’s critical that we examine local laws that leave us vulnerable to arrest, discrimination and eviction.
Housing access is a safety issue. The links between housing instability and exposure to dangers such as labor and sex trafficking are well documented, and anti-trafficking organizations such as Freedom Network USA have long prioritized housing access as a critical measure in supporting victims of exploitation. In light of this information, laws such as the ones on the books in the state clearly pose barriers to safety and stability for our most vulnerable Vermonters.
Of particular concern are laws disallowing adults from occupying buildings for the broadly defined purpose of “prostitution, lewdness and assignation”. As someone who has created and sold adult media online as a way of making money, I’m keenly aware of how precarious my access to housing can be.
I am a sex worker, and I personally know dozens of other strippers and adult film creators who have been denied housing or evicted due to their legal profession. But don’t take my word for it, check out the report from Free Speech Coalition which surveyed more than 600 legal adult entertainers and found that two out of every three had experienced housing discrimination.
This is not a niche population. People with erotic professions and side hustles are more common than you would think. There’s evidence to suggest that during the pandemic tens of thousands of adults started selling adult media online in an attempt to make ends meet financially.
Given these circumstances (and the fact that tons of people in Vermont are violating “indiscriminate sex” laws), it’s alarming to know how vulnerable our housing is, regardless of how we make our living.
Fortunately, Vermonters are sensible people. After hearing the concerns of residents such as myself, lawmakers have introduced a bill that would at least enable us to legally have a roof over our head. H.605 would strike laws preventing people from accessing shelter or indoor venues for the purposes of “prostitution, lewdness and assignation”.
It would be a small step in the right direction as we work to increase safety and equity for everyone, regardless of how they earn a living. I hope that one day, we will decriminalize consensual adult sex work, but until then, anyone engaging in sex outside of marriage is still liable for arrest.
As a sex worker and adult woman, I find prostitution laws dictating who I can and cannot have sex with to be misogynistic, archaic and, frankly, dangerous. However, bills such as H.605 are a good starting point for modernizing Vermont’s laws to protect us all against potential housing discrimination, regardless of how our political landscape shifts over time.
