Spain breaks up male-prostitute trafficking gang

August 31, 2010 – 8:58am
By DANIEL WOOLLS
Associated Press Writer

MADRID (AP) – Spanish police say that for the first time they have broken up a human-trafficking gang that brought men to the country to work as prostitutes, providing them with Viagra, cocaine and other stimulant drugs to be available for sex with other men 24 hours a day.

Authorities arrested 14 people, mainly Brazilians, on suspicion of running the organization and another 17 alleged prostitutes for being in Spain illegally, the National Police said in a statement Tuesday.

Police inspector Jose Nieto said the case involving the Brazilians was the first in which Spanish authorities dismantled a ring in which traffickers brought in men, rather than women, to toil as sex workers.

Transgender porn star shares story (Buck Angel)

By David Burt
Contributing Reporter
Published Monday, February 15, 2010

Charlie Croom/Photography Editor. Buck Angel, a transgender porn star, said at a Pierson Master’s Tea that he “wasn’t hiding anymore” after his sex change.

Despite receiving an anonymous threat before his visit, Buck Angel, a female-to-male transgender porn star, spoke at a Master’s Tea as part of Sex Week at Yale on Saturday.

Angel shared his life story with an audience of about 50 students at the Pierson College master’s house. He emphasized the importance of self-acceptance and urged people not to submit to the labels society assigns them. Some students said they disagree with his participation in pornography, while others said they enjoyed his message.

Angel grew up in Southern California as a girl who enjoyed sports and often hung out with the boys, he said; both his family and his neighbors treated him like a boy.

NY: International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers

Written by Administrator2
Thursday, 24 December 2009 12:43

Listen to the broadcast segment here.

Members of Sex Worker Action New York march at Pride 2009

December 17th was the 7th Annual International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. Originally conceived by Dr. Annie Sprinkle and started by the Sex Workers Outreach Project USA as a memorial and vigil for the victims of the Green River Killer in Seattle, Washington, this event now calls attention to hate crimes committed against sex workers all over the globe, from Montreal to Sydney.

According to the Paulo Longo Research Initiative (a new policy institute focusing on international research on sex workers),

LV: March of the red umbrellas

On the scene as sex workers take to the Strip

Abigail Goldman

Tue, Dec 22, 2009 (7:10 p.m.)

“I don’t mind strippers,” the woman says, shrugging with open palms as if to say I’ll give you that, “but I have a problem with prostitutes, ’cause of the diseases they spread.”

This doesn’t go over well.

“That’s a myth,” someone snaps. And before the woman can respond—standing in sweatpants on the Strip, surrounded by people holding protest signs—another person pounces:

“If your pussy is your money, you keep that shit clean.”

SF police probe death of trans woman

by Seth Hemmelgarn
s.hemmelgarn@ebar.com

San Francisco police are investigating the death of a young transgender woman whose body was found last week in her North Beach residential hotel room.

Mariah Malina Qualls, 23, was found dead in the Golden Eagle Hotel, 402 Broadway Street, on Wednesday, December 9.

Stephen Gelman, administrator for the San Francisco Medical Examiner’s office, said that the manner and cause of death are pending.

Maureen D’Amico, an inspector with the San Francisco Police Department’s homicide unit, said police are investigating the death as a murder. As of Monday, December 14, she said that there had not been any arrests, but police do have leads. She couldn’t offer descriptions of any possible suspects.

UK: Man held in fire murder inquiry

Page last updated at 10:59 GMT, Sunday, 18 October 2009 11:59 UK

Police investigating the murder of a woman whose body was found strangled after a fire at her flat in Brighton have arrested a 42-year-old man.

The body of Andrea Waddell, 29, who had a masters degree and worked as a prostitute, was found just before midnight on Thursday by firefighters.

The man in custody, from Brighton, was held on Saturday night, police said.

Ms Waddell’s family have revealed she underwent gender reassignment surgery after moving to Brighton in 2004.

In a statement, they said she had originally been born Alexander John.

Ms Waddell studied for a masters degree in social and political thought at the University of Sussex, after graduating in philosophy at Durham.

UK: Sex-change graduate working as a prostitute strangled before killer set fire to her flat

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 12:23 PM on 18th October 2009

A murdered student who had been working as a prostitute had once been a man, her family has revealed.

Andrea Waddell’s body was discovered by firefighters called to tackle a blaze at the address.

The 29-year-old had been strangled.

As detectives hunted her killer, her grieving relatives disclosed the troubled life the murder victim had suffered before her untimely death.

Her parents, Sonia and Robin, and her brother Nick, said: ‘Our beloved Andrea has been through so much.

‘Born Alexander John, he was diagnosed with scoliosis – a severe spinal curvature – at the age of 14, and after surgery he developed fibromyalgia, a permanent condition of chronic pain.