December 17, by Maggie McNeill. I picked prostitutes as victims because they were easy to pick up without being noticed. I knew they would not be reported missing right away and might never be reported missing. I picked prostitutes because I thought I could kill as many of them as I wanted without getting caught. On this day we remember our sisters who have fallen victim to violence in the past, and work to raise public awareness about the violence which continues against us over much of the world every day due to the marginalization and discrimination which is the inevitable result of the prohibition of our profession.
The story of this day begins on July 8, when Gary Ridgeway murdered his first victim, a year-old prostitute named Wendy Lee Coffield, and dumped her body in the Green River near Seattle; his next four victims were also disposed of in the same way over the next several weeks, earning him the nickname by which he is best known: The Green River Killer.
Over the next two years he killed more than 48 women, most of them prostitutes, but then slowed down dramatically in once he started dating the woman who was later to become his third wife. He was finally arrested and charged with many of the murders in November of , then in confessed to 48 murders as part of a plea-bargain to avoid the death penalty he later confessed to killing about 40 other women whose remains have never been recovered. On December 18 th , he was sentenced to 48 consecutive life sentences plus years.
When Ridgeway finally confessed Dr. This was the first Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, which has since grown into an international observance with events and vigils in a number of cities around the world. The red umbrella was first used as a symbol by Venetian prostitutes for a demonstration against human rights abuses in ; it was then adopted in by the International Committee on the Rights of Sex Workers in Europe ICRSE as a symbol of resistance to discrimination.
Hookers who dare to report rapes, robbery or other brutalization may even be arrested and subjected to further brutalization including rape at the hands of the police. James Infirmary or other sex worker aid organization; spreading the word about the day; talking about the topic to people you feel may be receptive; or even just carrying a red umbrella. This is so sad and so wrong. Forty-eight life sentences β big deal! The girls were bumped off and their lives have ended β forever.
