In 2020, a group of sex trade survivors in the Pacific Northwest came together to defeat a dangerous attempt to fully decriminalize the sex trade in Oregon. The bill, written by a sex buyer, was designed to grant all sorts of special legal protection for buyers.  Survivors organized, strategized, collaborated with stakeholders, and successfully stopped the bill.

As we engaged with survivor leaders across the country, we has a realization. The model we had built in the PNW, grounded in strategy, solidarity, and survivor expertise, could benefit other survivors doing incredible work in their own communities. So, we got to work.

We built a plan and launched the Sex Trade Survivor Caucus (STSC), a national organization divided into eight regions, each led by a survivor committed to building power four the survivor community, protecting one another, and changing policy from the ground up.