This was never about merely cleaning up archaic language.

Months before Burlington’s Town Meeting Day, sex trade survivors — including those bought and sold in Vermont — sounded the alarm regarding a dangerous “bait and switch” when it came to revoking wording in the city charter governing prostitution. Initially executed under the cover of darkness, we flagged a well-organized plan to rev up a charter language issue to be used as a fig leaf in a sneaky effort to make pimping, sex buying and brothel owning legal throughout the Green Mountain State.

To be clear, everyone wanted to eliminate the charter’s antiquated, offensive wording. A simple amendment to language could have accomplished this goal. But that wasn’t done, and the reasons for this deception are crystal clear.

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