Legalizing brothels.
It's one issue that, excuse the term, brings together strange bedfellows.
The religious fundamentalists - in fact even religious moderates - decry the growing support of what they term "immoral" behaviour. Behaviour that is now legally sanctioned by the state.
The feminists and women's rights advocates are, for the most part, equally incensed about the Ontario Appeal Court's ruling to legalize brothels in Ontario. They see the ruling as supporting the abuse of women. The prostitution industry exists simply because women can be, and are, treated as sex objects. They argue that, much as countries used to benefit from slavery, brothel operators benefit from the sale of women's bodies, and that is simply wrong.
The court, in a nutshell, agreed with the argument that safety issues trump morality issues. Sex trade workers, they said, are safer in a secure building - a brothel - than they are on the street furtively dealing with johns.
The court essentially recognizes that the state has been pretty much useless in stopping prostitution.
Sex trade workers have hailed the decision as a huge victory.
But, alas, we think it is a sad victory. Yes, some sex trade workers will manage to find a brothel that is safer. But the majority of street prostitutes are out there not because they've made a career choice but because they were abused as children and/or have a drug or alcohol habit.
They are victims who will be revictimized wherever they sell their bodies - in back alleys, or in 'secure' houses.
