POLITICS
Decrim advocates charge middle-ground bill headed for Albany is not decriminalization
BY MATT TRACY
The movement to fully decriminalize
sex work in
New York has been met
with resistance from
a pair of state legislators who are
introducing a separate bill that
would only gut penalties for sex
workers — not their clients or those
facilitating their work — prompting
anger from advocates who have
adamantly argued that partial
decriminalization still hurts sex
workers.
According to the Daily News and
the Queens Eagle , State Senator
Liz Krueger of Manhattan and Assemblymember
Tremaine Wright
of Brooklyn are proposing a bill
mirroring a form of decriminalization
known as the Nordic Model or
Nordic Model Sex Work Bill Queued Up
TWITTER/ @ACLAIRELEGENDRE Equality Model. The legislative ef-
Consul General of France Anne-Claire Legendre (left) speaks about the Nordic Model to a handful of offi cials including Manhattan State Senator Liz Krueger
(sitting to Legendre’s right) and Brooklyn Assemblymember Tremaine Wright (third from right in background).
➤ NORDIC MODEL continued on p.11
Jim Owles, US House Hispanic PAC Endorse Ritchie
Bronx pol welcomes wave of support as June primary looms in crowded Dem fi eld
BY MATT TRACY
The Jim Owles Liberal
Democratic Club and
the political arm of
the Congressional Hispanic
Caucus have both thrown
their support behind out gay City
Councilmember Ritchie Torres in
his race for Congress, giving the
31-year-old lawmaker key boosts
with roughly six months to go until
the Democratic primary competition
to succeed outgoing Bronx
Representative José Serrano in
the 15th district.
Torres secured the support of
Jim Owles just weeks after members
of another citywide LGBTQ
political group, the Stonewall
Democratic Club of New York City,
backed him . The endorsement of
the 38-member Congressional
Hispanic Caucus’ Bold PAC — fi rst
reported by Buzzfeed — represents
infl uential support for the 31-yearold
in a congressional district that
is 63 percent Latinx, according to
Serrano’s offi cial House of Representatives
web page.
If elected, Torres would become
the fi rst out gay Afro-Latinx member
of Congress and the fi rst out
gay member of the New York City
congressional delegation. (Sean
Patrick Maloney, an out gay Democrat
fi rst elected in 2012, represents
an upstate Hudson Valley
district.)
Jim Owles also endorsed Bronx
and Queens Congressmember
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in her
re-election campaign and Jamaal
Bowman, a Bronx middle school
principal challenging incumbent
Representative Eliot Engel in the
16th Congressional District encompassing
the northern Bronx
and Westchester County.
The club offered high praise for
Torres, saying he has “proven to
be one of the most effective and
respected members of the City
Council,” while also raising a
sense of urgency in that race over
the candidacy of notoriously anti-
LGBTQ and misogynistic Bronx
Councilmember Ruben Diaz, Sr.
In response to the endorsement,
Torres used the opportunity to
tear into Diaz’s candidacy and
blast him for inviting Republican
Senator Ted Cruz of Texas to the
Bronx in 2015.
“Diaz, Sr., is a Trump Republican
running in the wrong primary
and it is time to end his political
career,” Torres said in a written
statement. “I represent the best
opportunity to defeat Reverend
Diaz, Sr., and ensure that the 15th
Congressional District remains
the most Democratic district in
America. I’m running to fi ght for
equality for all and to fi ght for
Bronx residents who for too long
have not had a seat at the table.”
The club’s endorsement of Torres
was far less dramatic than
Stonewall’s contentious endorsement
meeting on October 23 when
Torres addressed questions about
his decision to take real estate
money and attacked one of his other
opponents, former City Council
Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, for
presiding over gentrifi cation during
her time leading the city’s lawmaking
body.
Torres, who raised by far the
most money in that race through
the fi rst two fi lings , is expected to
see even more funds fl ow in from
the Hispanic Caucus’ BOLD PAC.
He fi rst started receiving PAC
support over the summer when
the Congressional LGBT Equality
Caucus endorsed him and subse-
➤ RITCHIE TORRES, continued on p.11
December 5 - December 1 10 8, 2019 | GayCityNews.com
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