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Dutch Brothels Now Legal
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ROTTERDAM, NETHERLANDS, Oct. 2, 2000--Legislation
enacted last year and signed by Queen Beatrix went into effect Sunday, ending
the anomalous status of bordellos as illegal but tolerated.
Amsterdam's
red light district draws millions of visitors every year to its cinemas, live
sex shows, and sex stores. It's not uncommon to see middle-aged tourist couples
walking hand-in-hand past storefront windows where barely clothed prostitutes
flaunt their wares.
Prostitution itself was already legal in the Netherlands, but the new law
transforms the sex establishments into legal businesses with working guidelines
and employment benefits. Prostitutes and brothel owners alike will be obliged
to pay taxes.
"Prostitution has become an official occupation," said the author and
columnist who uses the pen name Carrie, at a celebration inaugurating the law.
At the event, organized by a long-established trade union for prostitutes
called "The Red Thread," activists praised the change as a long
overdue recognition of a service "as old as time."
Former prostitute Mariska Majoor, 31, called it "the beginning of
emancipation in prostitution," giving men and women the right to health
benefits and a pension.
It will also set legal guidelines for the sex business which will make it safer
to be a prostitute, such as the right to refuse a customer.
Bob Schijndel, a parliament member who voted in favor of the bill, said it will
become tougher for criminals to use bordellos as fronts for drug and weapons
trade. He expects about 6,000 registered prostitutes to take advantage of the
financial benefits enjoyed by every Dutch employee.
The Dutch government also will gain an important source of income. The Dutch
sex industry, along with the coffee shops that sell small quantities of
marijuana, generate billions of dollars each year, amounting to an estimated
half percent to the nation's gross domestic product.