State legislators are introducing a bill this week that would decriminalize sex work in Illinois.
State Rep. Will Guzzardi (39th District) and state Sen. Celina Villanueva (12th District) announced Monday they will introduce the legislation strengthening protections for sex workers in Illinois by modernizing existing laws to prioritize the safety, privacy and dignity of adults engaged in consensual sex work.
The bill follows three years of advocacy and collaboration with the Sex Worker Advisory Group, a coalition of Black and Brown, current and former sex workers—many of whom are trans, gender-diverse or queer.
“We hope this effort will lead to greater understanding and support of sex workers,” said Reyna Ortiz, who chairs the Sex Worker Advisory Group. “Changing policy will make it safer for sex workers, and we hope in time, will reduce the stigma that made it unsafe for many of us.”
According to research conducted by the National Institutes of Health, as much as 75% of sex workers will experience sexual violence in their career, and transgender people are disproportionately affected.
The bill being introduced aims to reduce this violence in Illinois by building safer systems and environments for sex workers that will ultimately reduce harm and increase protection under the law.
If passed, the bill would remove criminal penalties for adult, consensual sex work, while expunging criminal records for people with previous prostitution offenses, Guzzardi said. It would also allow for people with prostitution convictions to obtain certain licenses, such as massage, liquor and private temp agency licenses.
The bill would also establish a sex workers bill of rights, based on Illinois’ domestic worker bill of rights, that would assert that sex workers have the same basic protections when they engage in their work as anybody else does in other fields, Guzzardi said.
All of these changes would protect bodily autonomy by ending government interference in adults engaging in consensual sex and improve the safety of sex workers, Guzzardi said.
“Fully decriminalizing adult, consensual sex work enables sex workers to meet with their clients in safe places instead of being forced to hide in risky ones,” Guzzardi said. “It enables them to vet their clients [and] they can report violent people to law enforcement without fearing consequences for their own lives and livelihoods.”
By decriminalizing sex work, Illinois would give law enforcement more capacity to investigate crimes like sex trafficking, sexual abuse and other violence, Guzzardi said.
“These things are crimes, and they should be crimes,” Guzzardi said. “We believe that by doing what we’re doing with this bill, we will free up law enforcement’s capacity to investigate trafficking and other Skinds of violent criminal behavior.”
The bill was applauded by various LGBTQ+ groups, including Brave Space Alliance and Equality Illinois, which worked with Guzzardi, Villanueva and the Sex Worker Advisory Group on the legislation.
“Sex workers deserve dignity and protection, just like any other member of our society,” said Brian Johnson, CEO of Equality Illinois. “This legislation is about more than just legal reform—it’s about ensuring that all people, regardless of their occupation, are treated with respect and afforded the same protections under the law.”
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