From the first country in the world to allow women to vote: Prostitution decriminalised, brothels to be licensed (thanks, Judah).
It decriminalises prostitution and establishes a legal framework around the sex industry, with licensed brothels operating under public health and employment laws.
[...]
Transsexual MP Georgina Beyer, a former prostitute, made a desperate appeal to Parliament.
"I support this bill for all the prostitutes I have ever known who died before the age of 20 because of the inhumanity and hypocrisy of a society that would not allow them, or give them the chance, to redeem whatever circumstances made them arrive in this industry," she said.
"This is about accepting what occurs, about accepting that the people who work in this industry deserve some human rights. "
Similar to marijuana debates in Canada — amidst the fears that legalising small amounts will encourage more substance abuse, I think we forget that setting laws means publicly acknowledging that problems in our society exist, and that doing so means that we can openly take steps to deal with them accordingly.
Posted by sniffles at June 25, 2003 02:29 PM