Steven Maynard recently co-authored "Sex workers are left out in the cold by Ottawa’s unjust conviction amendments" in The Conversation.
The article was written in response to the federal government's recent announcement of its intention to amend the Expungement of Historically Unjust Convictions Act to expand the list of offences Canadians can apply to have struck from their criminal records. The list now includes abortion-related offences and indecent acts in a bawdy house, but excludes sex workers from expungement.
Maynard and his co-authors argue that "[a]s historians, we have a deep appreciation for the historical links in the policing and criminalizing of sex workers and gay men. This shared history informs our criticism of the government’s attempt to single out gay men as worthy of expungement while leaving sex workers out in the cold."
