They're at it again.  Even though there are laws on the books that make human trafficking illegal, 275 protesters were at the State House yesterday urging lawmakers to make indoor prostitution illegal.  They also point out that there may be 32 brothels in Rhode Island, and some of those brothels may be involved in human trafficking.  Did you notice the "mays"?

     Let's face it, yesterday's protest was not about making human trafficking iillegal, since it already is illegal.  It was about making indoor prostitution illegal.  It was about telling consenting adults what they are allowed to do with their bodies when they are behind closed doors.  I think these people realize that a large percentage of Rhode Islanders support keeping indoor prostitution legal, or just don't care, so they are trying to repackage the prostitution law as a human trafficking law.  They also made mention of how minors are victimized by legalized prostitution.  This is nonsense.

     Besides having laws at the state and federal level against human trafficking, we also have statutory rape laws.  If a 15 year old girl is being victimized, human tafficking charges can be brought against the perpetrator.  If the police are unable to make their case, then I would think that charges under statutory rape laws would be rather easy to prove.  Also, if the females weren't allowed to leave, wouldn't kidnapping charges be applicable?  If they were threatened and assaulted, couldn't assault charges be filed? 

     The point is that law enfforcement already has plenty of tools to address human trafficking.  The protest wasn't about human trafficking, it was about making prostitution completely illegal.  It's about the State of Rhode Island going into the bedrooms of consenting adults and telling us what they think is right and wrong.  

     Don't be fooled by the argument against indoor prostitution.  If it becomes illegal, you will see it happening on the streets.  Since prostitution isn't goint away any time soon, I have no doubt that it will just move from behind closed doors to outside in the neighborhood.  Where would you rather have it occur?