Friday, April 27, 2012

ESCORT Ads - Violating Women and The Constitution


CT1 Media, a Connecticut based subsidiary of the mammoth Tribune media conglomerate, is concerned about their First Amendment rights. However, they are already complicit in violating the 13th Amendment rights of minors in Connecticut.

In 2000, referring to its poor judgment in advertising rewards for runaway slaves over 150 earlier, the Hartford Courant issued a public apology “for its role in slavery.” Then in 2002, the paper published a self-expose entitled, “Complicity: Slavery And The Courant-Promoting And Protecting Human Bondage.” The extensive and well researched series of articles reported that, “On April 29, 1765, the Connecticut Courant published its first slave-related ad: ‘Joseph Enos of Union seeks the return of Bristol, his 30-year-old runaway slave.’ The next week, an anonymous advertiser offered for sale a ‘likely, healthy good natured NEGRO BOY, about 15.’”

Today, a prominent “Vision” and “Values” plaque hangs in the spacious lobby of theHartford Courant offices on Broad Street. The proud display is a public declaration of their corporate philosophy and mission, so all the world will know the Tribune owned newspaper strives to “Apply high standards of ethical behavior in all that we do.”

Recently, the Connecticut General Assembly introduced H.B. 5504 “An Act Concerning Commercial Sexual Exploitation of a Minor.” The Assembly’s Judiciary Committee voted unanimously in favor of the Bill and now it waits approval from the House, Senate and Governor. The law will make advertisers “guilty of commercial sexual exploitation of a minor” if they run “escort” ads involving anyone under the age of 18. The law is aimed directly at “escort” advertisements like those carried regularly in the Advocate Newspapers, Kensington based Extreme New England Magazine, and on websites like Backpage.com. These “escort” agencies have proven to be nothing but a front for those who are often guilty of human trafficking crimes, also known as modern day slavery.

Within minutes of introducing the bill, its opponents used questions of constitutionality to diminish its importance and influence. The Hartford Advocate’s parent company, CT1 Media, which also owns the Hartford Courant and WTIC Fox 61 TelevisionChris VanDeHoef, Executive Director of the Connecticut Daily Newspapers Association, and Representative Arthur O’Neill all questioned whether or not the bill would pass “constitutional muster” under the First Amendment.
Their position is summarized in a statement from CT1 Media, citing that the bill was “problematic due to concerns of constitutionality, enforcement and the inability of newspaper publishers to comply.”
This is a valid point and certainly not just an attempt to hide behind the First Amendment. But, the statement exhibits an extraordinarily narrow – or at the very least naïve – perspective on the real issue: slavery. And the Hartford Advocate “escort” advertisements from which CT1 Media profits, ads that the US Department of Justice proved to be used for “sex trafficking of a minor” in the case of United States vs. Dennis Paris, are most certainly complicit in violation of the 13th Amendment.
The Amendment is a simple one, stating. “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude . . . shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” The 13th Amendmentoutlawed slavery in all its forms. How does this relate to the Hartford Advocate and their “Escort” ads? In the second section of the Amendment it further states that, “Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.” They did so with the passage of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, which updated the federal anti-slavery statutes to include “sex trafficking of a minor.”

Dennis Paris, a pimp who operated out of motels south of Hartford on the Silas Deane Highway and the Berlin Turnpike, was convicted of “sex trafficking of a minor,” among other crimes, and is now serving a 30 year sentence in federal prison. Two of his victims, one 16 another 14, were advertised in the Hartford Advocate’s “Escort” ads section. Nearly five years after the trial in which the Advocate was cited over 60 times as Paris’s exclusive channel for selling his girls, the paper continues to run these advertisements every week.

So, while no one questions the First Amendment rights of Connecticut’s media, we ask them to consider the Constitutional rights of the people they serve, rights they are helping to violate.
It is an important moment in the life of CT1 Media, a proud Connecticut company. Will their “high standards of ethical behavior” once again move them to end advertising that is currently “promoting and protecting human bondage?” Will they again apologize for their role?

Or will they stand stubbornly with those long-dead slave masters and be forced to stop their unethical practices of modern-slavery advertisements by law?

Will they actually risk enormous public backlash solely for the right to continue their complicity in sex trafficking? Indeed, the new legislation has already exposed the truth behind these “escort” agencies, the ads they run, and those who profit from the ads – profits that are often taken from the sexual victimization of our young people.

The Connecticut Legislature ratified The 13th Amendment on May 4th 1865, less than three weeks after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. 147 years later, they have the opportunity to remind all those who are involved in today’s slavery that any form of human bondage will never be tolerated.

Of course, there is another solution, one which the Hartford Courant itself used in the past.Stop running ads promoting slavery and apologize.

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Ads Selling Sex With Minors Must Not Be Tolerated


Since the Hartford Courant and its subsidiary publication, the Hartford Advocate, will not act to prevent sex trafficking in Connecticut by refusing “escort” advertising, Connecticut legislators must intervene to end this open practice of modern day slavery.

The 2012 General Assembly has the opportunity to seriously address sex trafficking in Connecticut by passing H.B. 5504 “An Act Concerning Commercial Sexual Exploitation of a Minor.” On Monday, April 3, 2012, the Assembly’s Judiciary Committee voted unanimously in favor of the Bill and now it waits approval from the House, Senate and Governor. The law will make advertisers “guilty of commercial sexual exploitation of a minor” if they run “escort” ads involving anyone under the age of 18. It is aimed directly at “escort” advertisements like those carried regularly in the AdvocateNewspapers, Kensington based Extreme New EnglandMagazine, and on websites like Backpage.com. These “escort” agencies have proven to be nothing but a front for those who are often guilty of human trafficking crimes, also known as modern day slavery.

What about “legitimate” escort agencies? There aren’t any. The very idea is absurd. It is common knowledge among law enforcement, the “johns” paying to have sex with women, and the pimps who are selling them that “escort” advertisements are thinly veiled promotions for prostitution. And frequently within the world of prostitution hides the crime of trafficking in humans. This is certainly the case in Connecticut where the truth about the Hartford Advocate’s “escort” ads was revealed by Federal prosecutors during the 2007 trial of Dennis Paris.

Paris, a pimp who operated out of motels south of Hartford on the Silas Deane Highway and the Berlin Turnpike, was convicted of “sex trafficking of a minor,” among other crimes, and is now serving a 30 year sentence in federal prison. During the trial, Jeremiah Donovan, his defense attorney, asked Paris a key question about his so called “escort” business. It dealt with how Paris advertised one of his victims, Marianne, to men in Connecticut.

“How did it come about that you had people who wanted to go out on dates with Marianne?”
“They would call numbers that I advertised,” Paris explained.
“And where would you advertise?” Donovan asked.
Hartford Advocate. It’s like a local, I don’t want to say trade paper, but it’s a free paper. They have an escort section.”
“Now, the Hartford Advocate has never been charged so far as you know with promoting prostitution, right?” Donovan asked.
“Not yet,” Paris replied.
Nearly five years after the trial in which the Advocate was cited over 60 times as Paris’s exclusive channel for selling his girls, has the publication stopped running these advertisements?

Like the pimp said, “not yet.”

The paper’s publisher, Joshua Mamis, brushed off the paper’s complicity by stating in part, “We routinely examine our advertising standards and practices, including advertising relating to adult businesses, to ensure that we meet the needs of the community that we serve.”

Translation: The ads won’t stop. Not yet.

What kind of “escort” advertisements do the Advocate’s “standards and practices” allow? One  recent example from the paper reads: “Sasha & Milani 2 GIRL Specials Petite & Busty Come indulge in all your Fetishes And Desires GFE & GREEK AVAIL NO RUSH IN/OUT 24/7 TOYS AVAILABLE 860-xxx-xxxx.”

The new legislation is an important first step in motivating the Advocate to change its policies and permanently remove is “escort” advertisements. Yet, the Advocate is in not alone in the marketing of flesh in Connecticut. Backpage.com, a website owned by Village Voice Media, began running online “escort” ads in Connecticut last November. Days later, SimsburySchedule police made the first reported prostitution arrest in the town’s 300 year history. The two people arrested had placed their ad on Backpage.com. One had a previous arrest for promoting prostitution of a girl under 11 years old.
Backpage.com’s complicity in sex trafficking is so profound that Goldman Sachs recently sold their 16% ownership in the company citing the “escort” ads as the singular reason for dumping the stock.

All those in Connecticut who continue to profit from “escort” ads selling trafficking victims can say, “not yet.” Dennis Paris, a Connecticut pimp convicted of “sex trafficking of a minor,” can say, “not yet.”

Connecticut lawmakers do not have the option to join the others in saying, “not yet.” They must take action now. They must say, “never.”

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Wednesday, April 18, 2012

TEN Underage Girls Victimized by “ESCORT” ads

This article is based on the dedicated research and writing of human rights advocate, William Hayes, of VillageVoicePimp.com.

Ten underage girls are the latest to be victimized and sold online by Village Voice Media, the alternative weekly newspaper chain which owns the classified web site, Backpage.com.

Numerous reports from all over the United States tell of underage girls being held in bondage and sold through the “adult” section of Backpage.com, which has become a notorious trafficking center for pimps and their customers, every day men called “john” or “hobbyists.”

And while ten victims in one law enforcement operation seems astounding, it really should come as no surprise.

Federal prosecutors reported that two members of a Fairfax County, Virginia Crips gang pleaded guilty to charges of running a prostitution ring that recruited and trafficked local high school girls. Gang members Michael Tavon Jeffries, 21, and Christopher Sylvia, 23, both of Virginia, admitted their role in the trafficking operation in federal court in Alexandria.
Prosecutors said that members of the Underground Gangster Crips approached young girls on street corners, the Washington D.C. Metro, Facebook and even in school, telling them that they were pretty and could earn money by having sex with men.
At least 10 underage girls from Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia were lured by the gang into prostitution and were held captive through threats and violence, including rape, court records say. However, since the girls are minors, federal law dictates these crimes as human trafficking violations, not prostitution.
Jeffries, a member of the gang, and Sylvia, an associate, pleaded guilty to sexual trafficking of a minor. They face from ten years to life in prison.
“We have a zero-tolerance, one-strike policy toward juvenile sex trafficking in this district,” said U.S. Attorney Neil H. MacBride. “Anyone we find who entices or forces a young girl into the vile world of prostitution will pay a very heavy price for their actions.”
Court records show that Jeffries admitted that he worked as a bodyguard for the ring, collecting proceeds from “johna,” advertising the girls on Backpage.com and paying for hotel rooms, where the sex for sale occurred. Sylvia admitted to transporting girls to jobs.
Both are scheduled to be sentenced in July. Attorneys for both men declined to comment.
Now, the attention has turned to Village Voice Media and Backpage.com executives, Jim Larkin and Michael Lacey. The two are silent over the growing backlash against Backpage.com and the website’s “adult” ads where the ten girls were – and thousands of others across America are – regularly sold.

However, Village Voice general counsel Elizabeth McDougall is doing most of the talking for the company, continually attempting to defend Village Voice Media and Backpage.com.

Days after the two men in the Virginia case pleaded guilty to the pimping of the ten underage girls, McDougall participated in a panel discussion about sex trafficking on MSNBC. While child advocates on the panel argued that the trafficking of just one child was one too many, McDougall agreed that the sex trafficking of minors is a “social atrocity.” However, she maintained that if Backpage.com shut down its adult section, the pimps would just migrate to off-shore sites where they would be beyond the jurisdiction of U.S. authorities.
By that reasoning, McDougall is to keeping the problem alive right here in the U.S. no matter the human cost, so that Village Voice can continue making an estimated profit of $25 million a year from the adult ads. Others have said that her argument is akin to saying that drug dealers shouldn’t be moved off of school playgrounds because the police will know where to find them. Dangerous logic.
Two States are attempting to address “Escort” ads by enacting laws that would put pressure on publishers like Village Voice Media and the Tribune Company – both of which run print and online version of “Escort” and “Adult” advertising. Washington recently passed legislation that would make publishers liable for accepting “Escort” ads which include minors. Connecticut is now considering a similar law.

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