Outsiders was mentioned in the House of Lords on 22nd January. Lord Thomas of Gresford, for the Lib Dems, when commenting on the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill 2008, said, "Before I leave this point, I refer to the specialist interest material we have received from the Outsiders Trust, which represents the interests of physically disabled people. That is the sort of issue I hope we will come back to in Committee"
This mention is a result of the campaigning we have been doing, to challenge this Bill because, should it become law in its current form , it would severely limit the opportunities of many disabled people in Britain. People downloading or possessing extreme pornography (ie some images of BDSM (Bondage, Domination, Sadism & Masochism) would and people hiring prostitutes would be prosecuted, perhaps sent to prison, go on the Sex Offenders Register, and their lives ruined. Of course, not all disabled people need the services of sex workers or enjoy looking at extreme pornography, but some rely on or the other. People who are house-bound, physically weak, socially isolated, fearful of rejection, unable to find partners or unable to fulfill their dreams, should not have their sexual outlets taken away from them by some ignorant law.
You may have been seeing lots of negative stuff about sex work in the media. What is happening here is what happened in Sweden - fundamentalist feminist jargon is being taken as fact. The justification of criminalising clients of sex workers in the UK was based on Fiona MacTaggart saying, "25,000 trafficked women were doing sex work in this country". After searching for two years (Operation Parameter) the police only found 85 girls, and most of these knew why they were coming to this country. So this Bill is based on a lie. Beware - in Sweden they still don't even discuss the men who are denied sexual services (or go underground to find them) because it is not part of the feminist ethic.
PLEASE HELP US STOP THAT HAPPENING HERE!
We encourage you to write to your MP. You can find your MP and their contact details by typing "Find your MP" into google. MPs bin letters that are obvious copies of standard letters, so you need to personalise it with your own words and ideas. The disability argument is strong, as MP would not want to be seen to be denying disabled people of their rights. It's good if you add stories of your own. Here is what you could be discussing:
Would restrict the civil liberties of people including disabled people, of enjoying the freedom to pay for sex and download extreme pornography.
Clauses to Oppose:
New Clause 2 would bring the criminalisation of clients
Section 64 Would criminalise the downloading and possession of some images of BDSM sex (Bondage, Domination, Sadism & Masochism)
Sending a letter to your MP could will make a difference to the lives of many people in this country. Otherwise people hiring sex workers and looking at extreme pornography will not only get arrested, fined and perhaps go to prison, they might also be put on the Sex Offences Register which would totally ruin their lives.
Those of you who cynically believe that politicians just vote for what they are told from above, you may prefer to write to the House of Lords - but hurry! They are discussing it NOW! You can find their contact details by typing Alphabetical List of Members of the House of Lords - into google. The names of people to approach are below. Dr Tuppy Owens
Sexual Freedom Coalition
SYMPATHETIC MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS
ON EXTREME PORNOGRAPHY
Lord Thomas of Gresford
Lord Hunt of Kings Heath
Baroness Miller
Lord Bragg
Andrew Mcintosh
David Puttnam
Alf Dubs
Viscount Falkland
Clive Solely
Earl of Onslow
Lord Lloyd
Helena Kennedy QC
Geoffrey Dear
ON SEX WORK
Lord Lucas
Bns Miller (Lib Dems)
Baroness Gould
Baroness Anita Gale
Baroness Betty Lockwood
Baroness Howells