I attended the 40th anniversary of the Kirby Institute’s “A public health crisis: HIV and the need for evidence”.

The Kirby Institute is a trailblazer in research into HIV. It is a major advocate for the representation of marginalised communities, like sex workers, in research, discrimination protections and social justice.

Julie Bates, an icon of the sex worker community was on a panel and spoke about the importance of making sex work a “protected characteristic” under anti-discrimination laws, to prevent vilification and so she can come out as a sex worker when she picks up her grandson at kindie.

Bates is the principal of Urban Realists, a town planning, health and safety consultancy providing advice and support to non-government organisations.

The failure to provide discrimination protection to sex workers makes them more vulnerable. When sex work is pushed to the margins, sex workers are placed in insecure situations on the outskirts of suburbia. Zoning laws that force brothels into isolated industrial areas were initially intended to create distance between sex work and domestic life, the idea being to protect “respectable” people from sex workers. However, this approach has created environments that heighten danger for those working alone and into the night.

The fact that anti-discrimination laws do not cover sex workers in many jurisdictions means they can be vilified with minimal consequences. The........

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