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= COYOTE RI (Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics Rhode Island) = COYOTE RI is a sex workers' rights organization based in Providence, Rhode Island. Like the national organization which began in San Francisco in 1973, Its name is a backronym for Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics to show how anti-sex-worker legislation and socially imposed stigma impacts negatively impacts sex workers. COYOTE RI is a member of the Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP).

History
Margo St. James and the original Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics chapter filed a lawsuit against the state of Rhode Island (COYOTE v. Roberts). The suit critiqued gender discrimination in prostitution policing and the potentially broad application of the state's loosely worded prostitution laws. The resulting change in laws decriminalized indoor prostitution from 1979 until 2009.

COYOTE RI was founded in 2009 by Bella Robinson, a community activist and sex worker for more than 30 years. At this time, indoor prostitution in Rhode Island had just been recriminalized after a legal loophole in Rhode Island prostitution laws was closed. Robinson has served as executive director from inception to the present.

In ---, COYOTE RI became part of the AMOR (Alliance to Mobilize Our Resistance) Network, an alliance of grassroots organizations in Providence.

In 2019, COYOTE RI and the Brown University Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice hosted a panel discussion entitled "10 Years After Re-Criminalization: Reflecting on a Decade of Anti-Trafficking Activism in RI."

Programs and Services
Current COYOTE RI projects include:


 * Case managing over 100 incarcerated sex workers through SWOP Behind Bars
 * Educating people about myths around sex work and sex trafficking
 * Hosting community events
 * Operating a hotline for sex workers in crisis
 * Providing harm reduction training so that people in the sex industry operate as safely as possible

International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers
Since 20, COYOTE RI has hosted a December 17th event for the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. COYOTE has put together annual lists of sex workers lost to violence alongside lists of December 17th events around the country. Speaking at 2018's event, Executive Director Robinson stated, “It’s time to change the social perception that sex workers aren’t people who deserve to live and work with dignity in safe conditions. Criminalization and stigma have created the perfect playground for bad cops and predators to continue to rob, rape and murder sex workers with impunity. We’re holding this vigil to show that sex workers deserve to not only live and work with dignity and in safe conditions but that we also need equal protection under the law.”

Outreach
Migrant outreach to primarily Asian spa workers in the Providence and Pawtucket areas. COYOTE RI translated "Know Your Rights" cards into Korean and Mandarin in the wake of several police raids of these establishments, which COYOTE RI condemned as xenophobic and whorephobic.

Providing, condoms, water, and other supplies to people experiencing poverty in Providence. In 2019, COYOTE RI distributed over 5,000 condoms and hundreds of harm reduction supplies like Fentanyl test strips, Narcan, and hygiene kits.

The Good Neighbors Television Show
Beginning in October 2019, COYOTE RI has had its own television show on PEG RI-TV, a local public access television station. Hosted by COYOTE RI youth coordinator Ari Toole, it is the first non-fiction television show in the world about sex worker rights and activism. Past topics have included sex work decriminalization, recidivism and criminal justice, trans rights, violence against sex workers, and disability and consent.

H5354 and
In January 2019, with the backing of COYOTE RI, State Representative Anastasia Williams (D-District 9) introduced a resolution entitled "Creating a Special Legislative Commission to Study the Health and Safety Impact of Revising Commercial Sexual Activity Laws." Nearly 20 people testified, all in favor, including Dame Catherine Healy. The resolution died in committee.

https://www.providencejournal.com/news/20190430/critics-of-criminal-prostitution-laws-urge-changes-at-ri-house-hearing

https://turnto10.com/politics/lawmaker-proposes-studying-whether-to-decriminalize-sex-work

https://www.providencejournal.com/news/20190214/rep-williams-wants-frank-talk-about-ris-prostitution-laws

In 2020, ---

Other Legislation
For:


 * S0317 and H5733: Establishing criteria for the criminal offense of sexual assault when the victim is in the custody of a peace officer and making it a felony with minimum 3-year imprisonment. Senator Sam Bell will be reintroducing this bill in 2020
 * Coyote is also supporting the Reclassifying Drug Possession to a Misdemeanor (H5760/S0472)
 * Coyote is supporting the Fair License Campaign, H5863 that was launched by DARE (Direct Action for Rights and Equality) – Behind the Walls Committee.
 * Coyote supported H5125 – The Reproductive Privacy Act.

Against:


 * H7550 the Human Trafficking Reporting and Prevention Act

National Surveys
In 2017, COYOTE RI conducted a nationwide survey of people working in the consensual sex trades, the first sex-worker led survey of its kind in the United States. Using Backpage, the organization contacted 1,494 sex workers about working conditions, family life, and experiences with violence. Bella Robinson and Elena Shih, Manning Assistant Professor of American Studies and Ethnic Studies at Brown University, concluded from the survey data "that anti-trafficking laws have expanded policing and surveillance of sex workers....sex workers who have never considered themselves victims of trafficking have been impacted by the rise in policy and concern surrounding trafficking and the effects of conflating the two." The survey was used by many sources to combat sex trafficking myths, including by PolitiFact, which used the survey to support the average age of entry for prostitution in the U.S. as 22 instead of 14.

COYOTE RI conducted another survey after the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (known as SESTA/FOSTA) passed as federal law in April 2018. The law allows for the prosecution of third-party sites for potentially prostitution or sex trafficking related content. Instead of preventing sex trafficking, the law has had disastrous effects for sex workers. FOSTA/SESTA continues to have significant opposition from human rights organizations and people involved in the sex trades.

COYOTE RI subsequently conducted the only post-FOSTA nationwide survey of sex workers about how their experiences have changed immediately after the passage of the law. Since Backpage had recently been seized by the FBI, surveys were distributed over Facebook and other social media platforms. The survey results demonstrated that 60% of sex workers said that they had to take less safe clients to make ends meet, with a 29% drop in the number of people screening clients. In addition, two-thirds of respondents stated that someone had "tried to threaten, exploit, or get freebies from [them] since FOSTA passed." Over half of respondents saw a decrease in their income less than a week after Backpage went down.

Affiliations
COYOTE RI is affiliated with numerous organizations in Rhode Island, across the United States, and around the world. COYOTE RI is typically affiliated with other sex worker rights organizations, human rights organizations, and organizations that study sex trafficking. Affiliated organizations include:

Sex Work and Sex Trafficking Related Organizations

 * Center for the Study of Slavery and Justice (as part of the Human Trafficking Research Cluster)
 * Community United for Safety and Protection (CUSP)
 * COYOTE LA
 * Decriminalize Sex Work
 * Desiree Alliance
 * Erotic Service Provider Legal, Educational and Research Project (ESPLER)
 * Erotic Service Providers Union
 * International Committee on the Rights of Sex Workers in Europe
 * International Sex Worker Foundation for Art, Culture and Education
 * New Jersey Red Umbrella Alliance
 * openDemocracy
 * Police Prostitution and Politics
 * Sex Workers Outreach Project USA (SWOP USA)
 * Sex Workers Outreach Project Behind Bars (SWOP Behind Bars)
 * Sex Workers Project
 * Social Wellness Advocacy Network Colorado

Rhode Island Based Organizations

 * ACLU of Rhode Island
 * Black and Pink RI
 * Direct Action for Rights and Equality
 * The Center for Sexual Pleasure and Health
 * Colectivo Sin Fronteras
 * The FANG Collective
 * House of Hope
 * Movement Ground Farm
 * Planned Parenthood RI
 * Providence Youth Student Movement (PrYSM)
 * The Refugee Dream Center
 * Rhode Island Jobs with Justice
 * RI Womxn's Action Initiative