The Land Of My Ancestors Bans Paying For Sex

Bankshot may not sound like an Irish name, and my real name doesn't sound much more Irish, but I have more Irish blood coursing through my veins than any other ethnicity. Therefore, it breaks my heart to read that Northern Ireland assembly members in Stormont voted this week to end the practice of paying for sex. 

According to The Guardian (link below), the law was passed, as all great laws are, during an historic late-night session.

Paid-for consensual sex is currently legal in Northern Ireland though activities such as kerb crawling, brothel keeping and pimping are against the law. The proposed ban is similar to the model operating in Sweden.

The human trafficking and exploitation bill was tabled before the assembly by Democratic Unionist peer Lord Morrow.

The fate of the bill’s contentious clause six, proposing the ban on purchasing sex, was uncertain at the outset of the debate, with Sinn Fein’s decision to back the prohibition along with the DUP proving crucial.

The clause was passed during the bill’s consideration stage by 81 votes to 10 shortly after 11.30pm.

While the legislation still has to pass further assembly stages, the significant majority support within the devolved administration means it is essentially now destined to become law.

Sex workers, like those seen above, took the streets to protest the legislation, but alas their efforts seem to have been in vain.

Sex workers opposing the clause and a trafficking victim in support of the ban were among those at Parliament Buildings in Belfast to watch the marathon debate.

Advocates of the ban insist it will reduce human trafficking while critics claim it will merely drive the problem further underground.

Does this sound like California's AB 1576 to anyone else, or at least the reasoning behind its support? Legislators blindly promising to fix a problem they know literally nothing about is no longer for Americans only, it seems. Welcome to democracy Ireland.

Via The Guardian