BREAKING NEWS

New Yorkers for the Equality Model member and survivor leader Melanie Thompson has launched a new limited podcast series, Exit Wound, featuring survivor leaders from New York.

This week, Homeland Security raided several of Sean "Diddy" Combs' residences, reportedly in connection with a sex trafficking investigation. This development comes after several individuals stepped forward accusing P. Diddy of rape, sexual assault, and sex trafficking. One woman, Cassie Ventura, filed a lawsuit against Diddy alleging that he entrapped her for 10 years in a “cycle of abuse, violence, and sex trafficking.”

On January 18th, a coalition of sex trade survivors, advocates and lawmakers, including the Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Jr., called on the New York State Legislature to eliminate the five-year statute of limitations for sex trafficking offenses.

Earlier this month, the Department of Justice announced the arrests of three individuals charged with operating an interstate prostitution ring in Massachusetts and Virginia patronized by high tech and pharmaceutical executives, doctors, professors, lawyers, scientists, accountants, elected officials, military officers, and government contractors with security clearances.

Meet the faces behind New Yorkers for the Equality Model (NYFEM)! We are a group of New Yorkers - sex trade survivors, direct service providers, and advocates - dedicated to shrinking the exploitative system of prostitution and providing resources to survivors and those wanting to exit the sex trade.

A coalition representing New Yorkers for the Equality Model held a press conference to draw attention to the surge of prostitution and sex trafficking in New York City. Advocates and sex trade survivors joined forces to hold city leaders accountable for the growing crisis affecting the most vulnerable people of New York City – marginalized Black and brown women, girls, undocumented immigrants, foster care and LGBTQ youth.

This month, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof sat down with sex trade survivor and New Yorkers for the Equality Model member Melanie Thompson for a conversation about her experiences as a sex trafficked child and her work today as a survivor leader.

On June 26th, the governor of Maine signed a bill decriminalizing people in prostitution, the first bill of its kind in the United States. We are thrilled that prostituted people will no longer be criminalized for their own exploitation, and also that Maine strengthens their commitment to holding sex buyers and other exploiters accountable for the harms they inflict.

On May 16th, members of New Yorkers for the Equality Model joined dozens of sex trade survivors and allies to advocate for the Sex Trade Survivors Act in front of the Judiciary Committee of the Massachusetts State legislature.

For Sexual Assault Awareness Month, we launched a campaign about the the realities of the sex trade and why consent can't ever be bought. The sex trade's abuse of vulnerability and inherent violence means that a person's "yes" is not free of coercion.

As you learn more about prostitution legislation and the Equality Model, you see that many people fail to make the connection between sex trafficking and the system of prostitution. To strengthen your own understanding of how sex trafficking works – as a vehicle driving people to the prostitution market – please visit our Instagram page below and share the information with your networks!

On February 21st, the New Yorkers for the Equality Model and Human Rights Program at Roosevelt House, Hunter College hosted a special event, A Vision of Justice and Equality for Sex Trade Survivors, where New Yorkers for the Equality Model member Melanie Thompson shared her film "Can Oppression Be Liberation?"

A review of the three primary models governing prostitution around the globe including legalization/full decriminalization, criminalization and the Equality Model.

In honor of National Human Trafficking Awareness Month, New Yorkers for the Equality Model will be hosting two special trainings to enhance your understanding of the harms of the sex trade and present legislative solutions for preventing human trafficking.

The truth about the sex trade: taking a deeper look a popular narratives

This time of year, our calendars are marked full of occasions and holidays - things to celebrate and reminders to give back. November 25th was International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

New Yorkers for the Equality Model hosts an exclusive screening of the Sell/Buy/Date, a new hybrid/documentary from Tony Award-winning playwright and performer Sarah Jones, Executive Produced by Meryl Streep and featuring appearances from Rosario Dawson, Bryan Cranston, and Ilana Glazer.

Sex trade survivor leaders Esperanza Fonseca, Gabrielle Prieto, and Melanie Thompson joined filmmaker Sarah Jones and moderator/Equality Model advocate Mitha Choudhury in a thoughtful dialogue of the harmful misconceptions about the sex trade and the cultural battles we face as we fight for true equality.

Last week, members of New Yorkers for the Equality Model hosted a roundtable discussion on trafficking for sexual exploitation in New York State and beyond. The discussion included advocate and philanthropist Chelsea Clinton, New Yorkers for the Equality Model member and Survivor Leader Melanie Thompson, OSCE's Special Representative and Coordinator for Combatting Trafficking in Human Beings Valiant Richey, and the co-sponsors of New York's Sex Trade Survivors Justice and Equality Act, Senator Liz Krueger and Assemblywoman Pamela Hunter.