California Democrats have been scrambling to justify their decision to scrap a provision in a bill that would upgrade sex trafficking of minors from a misdemeanor to a felony.
It’s been difficult to get coherent arguments from those who believe buying and selling children for sex isn’t enough of a big deal to warrant harsher punishment. But this Democratic Assemblymember did his level best by resorting to the left’s favorite tactic: Blame everything on bigotry.
During the hearing in which the bill was debated, he noted that “there is a provision of the bill that creates a new crime of loitering with the intent to purchase commercial sex.”
I'm concerned that the provision could unintentionally reinstate discriminatory policy practices, practices practices that we all know that have historically and disproportionately impacted communities of color, particularly black and brown communities, as well as members of the LGBTQI + community.
Democratic Assemblyman is concerned that this bill addressing human/sex trafficking (and was supposed to make it a felony to solicit 16 and 17 years old) will disproportionately affect black and brown communities and LGBTQI+ community. pic.twitter.com/rDPO4GeMw9
— California Republican Party (@CAGOP) April 29, 2025
It appears the lawmaker might be referring to certain loitering laws that were imposed in the past, specifically to target Black Americans. But this is not the same as what is being proposed here. This bill refers to loitering with the intent to purchase children for sex.
Either this lawmaker believes that Black and Hispanic Americans, along with members of the LGBTQ community, are more likely to traffic children, or he is assuming the law will be enforced disproportionately against members of these groups. Either way, it is not hard to see the racist implications of his argument.
The problem is there is no evidence that this happens when it comes to child sex trafficking. This is not the same as drug policy, which has resulted in higher rates of arrests and convictions of Black and Hispanic Americans, even though these groups do not use or sell drugs at higher rates than other ethnicities.
However, it is worth noting that ethnic minorities are more vulnerable to these types of crimes. Women and girls who happen to be minorities account for about 54 percent of human trafficking victims — including sex trafficking.
Why would an official aligned with a party that claims to care about the plight of Black and Brown Americans want to support lax punishment for those who victimize them? This is yet another example of how leftists pretend to champion “marginalized” groups when their only real objective is to exploit them.
Even if there was data showing that minorities and LGBTQ people were more likely to be arrested for these crimes even if they committed them at the same rate as others, the solution is not to go easy on child sex traffickers. The solution is to address the disparities in how police are enforcing these laws. Unfortunately, it appears embracing wokeness is more important than protecting children for these people.
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