9/21/12: Link Exchanges, Law Questions, Sexy Events, HIV Research, Robyn Few

Hello all! Hope you’re having a great September.  Mine’s not so bad, now that I’m aaaaaaaalmost caught up on everything I got behind on during Isaac and the ensuing power outage.  Here are some updates:

There’s a new page on the website for our supporters:  http://swop-nola.org/swop-nola-supporters-links/

It’s linked in the sidebar of the site (on every page) and on the “How You Can Help” page.  The “Our Supporters” page is a list of any organization, business, website, individual, or small island nation that shows support for SWOP-NOLA by either:

1) posting a text or banner link on their site, or

2) by allowing us to post flyers at their place of business.

Basically, if you promote us, we’ll promote you.  Free publicity and an SEO boost!  So, if you’d like to post a link or let us post a flyer (or dump a stack of them), we’ll be sure to thank you by posting you there, too.

And yes, this goes for providers as well.  Contact us if you’d like to exchange links, or if you need help doing so!

For those of you who have been sharing your suggestions and posting tips on the site–thank you!  For those of you who haven’t–feel free to do so!  I’m meeting with a lawyer sometime soon to get answers to your questions about the law, how it applies to us, and how to work within the confines of it while staying safe.  Please, if you have questions you’d like answers to, let me know!

October 11-14 is Endless Gaycation!  Burlesque, education, health skills workshops, art, poetry, and the inevitable foolishness.  I will be there for at least some of it, getting drunk and making trouble–uhh, I mean, representing SWOP-NOLA and answering questions about sex workers’ rights and why the criminalization of our work ultimately makes it more dangerous for everyone involved.  Let me know if you’d like to join me!  And here’s their Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/events/429255177097360/

Earlier this month, the North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition held the Southern Harm Reduction & Drug Policy Conference in Atlanta.  Isaac kind of screwed up my plans for a last-minute road trip, but New Orleans was proudly represented by Women With A Vision.

Listen to the podcast here:  http://harmreduction.org/publication-type/podcast/seventy-nine/

Researchers may have found a new way to prevent HIV transmission (Let’s hope that further research confirms that it’s effective, and that it doesn’t take 20 years to become available to consumers).

Robyn Few, founder of SWOP USA (our parent organization), passed away on 9/13 after a four-year battle with cancer.  She worked tirelessly as an advocate and activist for sex worker rights in the United States, and in founding SWOP USA, created a way for sex workers and allies to organize locally via SWOP chapters and be connected by national network. Robyn also co-founded the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers (December 17).