our core
values & principles

We oppose the criminalization of sex work and seek legal, policy and culture change that both decriminalize sex work and reduce criminalization of people engaged in the sex trades, those profiled as sex workers, or purchasers and facilitators of sexual services.

We affirm the lived expertise of sex workers and prioritize the self-determination and leadership of Black, Brown, Indigenous, and PoC-identifying sex worker organizers, especially those who are transgender, intersex, gender-expansive, queer and LGB identifying, in our fight for decriminalization and our collective liberation.

We seek to shift public narratives that stigmatize sex work based on age, size, race, ethnicity, ability, economic status, immigration status, sexual health status, substance use, gender identity or sexual orientation. We provide public and community education about the criminalization of sex work and relevant policy changes.

We believe in the power and importance of community and healing for sex workers. We believe that sex workers coming together to work towards a better future can be healing and liberatory. This asks us to move with each other through conflicts and challenges in a way that does not replicate the patterns of violence that we experience and fight against at the systemic level.

We recognize that harm will happen, and we believe that collaborative and healing-informed practices that foster compassionate accountability and inclusion rather than punishment will make the coalition a more protected space as we work towards our common goals. Through our Conflict Resolution Committee, we work towards repair by following principles of restorative and transformative justice, non-violent communication, and collective healing. We believe that in order to build a strong coalition and movement, every member has a shared responsibility to make supportive spaces for folks to participate across differences; to actively address anti-Blackness and power dynamics in our work and structure; and to strive towards healing and sustainability.

We create sustainable programming and advocacy campaigns that are reflective of the most pressing needs of street-based sex workers, as well as and including those who are Black, transgender and gender-variant, systems-impacted youth, immigrants, people who use drugs, male sex workers, non-English speakers, unhoused people, and disabled sex workers, who are most often the targets of violence, punitive laws, and law enforcement officials. To that end, we reject the hierarchy of sex work and respectability politics in coalition structure and external advocacy.

We welcome and actively facilitate opportunities for sex workers to step into their organizing power and to play a leading role in DecrimSexWorkCA advocacy. Our advocacy will be rooted in a fact-based, harm reduction framework that takes a holistic, intersectional view in its activities and centers marginalized communities [but is inclusive of sex workers of all genders and from every part of the industry].

We support policy changes backed by empirical evidence that benefit those impacted by the criminalization of sex work.

We strive to work in partnership with other organizations and movements to achieve these goals.