That’s the what condominium owners, who are calling themselves The Homewood-Maitland Safety Association, a group of residents have recently moved into the area of Homewood and Maitland Street in Toronto are shouting every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night starting at 11pm in an effort to drive the transgender sex workers who work there away. I found their ad on Craigslist which reads:
The Homewood-Maitland Safety Association is meeting on the corner of
We are asking every concerned and/or victims of crimes and prostitution to join us for a meeting and an evening of community action to fight this plague that is Prostitution in this neighbourhood.
JOIN US !!! Come Friday evening at
Thank you for helping your community! HomewoodMaitlandSafety@gmail.com
I’m going to the “meeting” (which apparently isn’t a meeting at all but a group of yuppie condominium owning thugs intent on ridding there neighbourhood of street prostitution by harassing, and assaulting women involved in street based sex work), with my partner in crime, sex worker activist and zero-shit-taker Carin. We’ll be armed with a mega phone to try and educate these ignorant people who have so much money between their ears it affects their ability to learn.
I think this issue has to do more with the morals of prostitution rather than the nuisance of prostitution. As a person who has lived in downtown Toronto for more than half my life I have resided in many neighbourhoods that were popular strolls for prostitution and found that the women standing on the corner waiting for a “date” were no different than the women standing around in their skin tight, skimpy outfits and high heels waiting to get into a dance club. The only difference between the two is that the women involved in prostitution weren’t drunkenly yelling and screaming in the streets and/or puking on my front lawn like the women going to the night clubs were, plus the women going to the clubs hung out with drunken club going men who also puked and pissed on my front lawn, making me want to start up my own Anti Nightclub Association.
Besides, Homeland and Maitland has historically been a transgender stroll, if anyone should move out it should me the yuppies who have recently immigrated there, either that or they should just live with it just like I have learned to live with their Starbuck trash that often “misses” the garbage can.
Until prostitution is decriminalized sex workers will have to work the streets, lest their homes or indoor establishments get seized by the government under the Bawdy House offences. And to all the condo owners: harassing women who are most likely poor and marginalized does not to promote community building and solidarity but, instead perpetuates and legitimizes hate crimes against sex workers. NIMBY-ism also promotes pushing women involved in street based sex working into dangerous areas that are isolated -- such as truck stops, highways, and alleyways – increasing crimes against sex workers.
What the condo owners SHOULD be doing is connecting with the sex workers and creating strategies that would promote the safety of sex workers in the neighbourhood, while ensuring that the property value of the precious condo’s don’t go down.
Michael Ruhland,
I have had the pleasure of cleaning human feces and urine from my lawn but, it's usually frat boys or people with mental health issues, not street sex workers (that would be bad for business). Harassing people is a crime, assaulting people is a crime, picking on people of a particular subgroup is a hate crime, learning to live with one another is bliss.
Well aren't you just a saint. i contribute to my community by working with the police to solve crimes against sex workers, I also work with sex workers in my community to use services and work as safely as possible. I also put myself on the line to speak out for marginalized women. But you, you plant a garden and pick up your dog's poo. What a humanist and great community member you are...
Michael: What was the point of portraying yourself as "Allan", you know i own this site and have access to your IP address so what's with all the pretending?
PS. your last message sounded very threatening and hateful of transgender individuals. I will be reporting this.
Went down last night to do some witnessing, the people doing this protest obviously have nothing better to do, I think it's time for a counter protest.
PS. Transgender women are as much women as any other women.
Here's another post on this Homewood/Maitland Harassment/Transphobic group:
Most have social, economic, and health problems. Most first turn to prostitution at a young age, often before they are 18. 
Many prostitutes try to leave the streets, although they often return and then leave again. Most return to prostitution because their limited education and lack of skills make finding employment very difficult. Without a means to support themselves and their children, they may think staying on the streets is less risky than leaving prostitution. 
Street prostitutes’ lives are organized principally around prostitution itself, and around maneuvering through the legal system 
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