December 17: International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers

December 17 is recognized worldwide as the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers - a day of remembrance, resistance, and solidarity.

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It began in 2003 in San Francisco as a memorial for the victims of the Green River Killer. Gary Ridgway, who confessed to murdering more than 70 women - many of them sex workers - said he targeted them because he thought no one would notice if they disappeared. His words revealed a truth sex workers already knew: stigma and criminalization make our lives more vulnerable to violence, while the wider world often looks away.

That year, St. James Infirmary, a peer-based health clinic for sex workers, organized the first vigil. Sex workers, allies, families, and organizers gathered to light candles, speak names, and honor lives that society had written off. What began as one act of defiance against invisibility has since grown into a global movement. Today, communities across the world gather on December 17 - through vigils, rallies, art shows, and teach-ins - under the red umbrella, the international symbol of sex worker rights, to honor lives lost and demand safer futures.

But December 17 is not only about mourning. It is a day to shine a light on the ongoing violence sex workers face - violence rooted in stigma, criminalization, and systemic neglect. When sex workers are denied labor protections, excluded from housing or healthcare, or treated as disposable by law enforcement, the risks of exploitation and harm multiply. Remembering those killed is a sacred act; resisting the conditions that made that violence possible is a political responsibility.

Why We Say Their Names

We say their names because memory is a form of power. In a world that too often renders sex workers invisible, speaking each name brings a person back into view - whole, specific, beloved. Each recited name interrupts the silence, insists that this life mattered, that this community remembers.

We say their names because violence feeds on silence. When cases go uninvestigated, when obituaries miss the truth, naming becomes a record that cannot be erased. Each name spoken is a demand for accountability from systems that would rather look away.

We say their names because remembrance builds community. In vigils, living rooms, and comment sections, the ritual becomes a chorus of solidarity. It steadies us: breathe, listen, speak, pause. It transforms grief into resistance, and resistance into action - toward safety, toward decriminalization, toward a world where no one’s life is treated as expendable.

We say their names because language shapes reality. Using the words people chose for themselves restores dignity stolen by stigma. Speaking carefully, we take back the narrative from those who sensationalize or sanitize, and we honor the complexity of lives that were so much more than one tragic headline.

A Call to Action

On this day, we remind the world that sex work is work, and that the lives and safety of sex workers matter. Every vigil, every spoken name, every shared story is a refusal to let violence go unseen or unchallenged. And every act of solidarity - from lighting a candle to posting a message online - helps amplify the demand for justice and change.

Join us: Share why you stand with sex workers. Add a candle emoji in memory. Speak a name aloud. Attend a vigil in your city or online.

Whether you are a sex worker, an ally, a survivor, or someone who simply believes no one deserves violence, your voice is needed.

Together, our collective power can break the silence, challenge harmful narratives, and move us closer to a world where safety and dignity are non-negotiable.