NYC mayoral candidate Shaun Donovan promises to decriminalize sex work in new LGBTQ platform
The city should work to decriminalize sex work, says mayoral candidate Shaun Donovan, who’s launching a package of policy proposals on LGBTQ issues.
As part of his approach, Donovan — a former Obama and Bloomberg big — would disband the NYPD’s vice unit and allocate resources from chasing down sex workers toward health care, social services and related areas.
The idea comes after Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr. announced last month his office would no longer prosecute prostitution, the latest development in a nationwide shift in attitudes toward sex work.
Calling Vance’s stance “a step in the right direction,” Donovan stated “we must do more to protect the range of sex workers in our city from the dangers of criminalization and arrest.”
Other leading mayoral contenders have voiced support of decriminalizing sex work, with Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams — a former NYPD captain — a marked exception.
Pointing to the 2019 death of transgender woman Layleen Polanco in solitary confinement on Rikers Island, Donovan promised to completely end the jail practice. Last month, the state passed a ban on long-term solitary confinement.
Other parts of the LGBTQ platform Donovan shared with the Daily News extend from criminal justice to city schools.
The candidate said he’d use the mayor’s Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes to make sure anti-LGBTQ incidents are taken seriously.
In public schools, he’d make sure history classes include LGBTQ figures and that sex ed covers LGBTQ health.
Donovan, who ran the Office of Management and Budget under Obama and was housing secretary under Bloomberg, also pointed to his idea of installing a “chief equity officer” in the mayor’s office.
Along with fighting discrimination, the role would boost city contrasts with LGBTQ-run businesses, Donovan said.
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