What sparked a new collaboration between Queer Power Alliance (QPA) and Strippers Are Workers (SAW) was in part due to the Strippers’ Bill of Rights, which was passed in 2024 after the Seattle Police Department and the Liquor and Cannabis Board raided LGBTQIA+ bars on Capitol Hill that January, citing “lewd conduct.” Still fueled by the legislative win, QPA and SAW will grow their efforts to destigmatize sex work and advance safety protections for sex workers, in addition to political advocacy, through this merger.

“I think our needs have been changing, and there’s been this additional layer of continuing to fight the club owners to make sure we have workers’ rights,” Madison Zack-Wu, program manager at SAW, told the SGN.

This combination of factors sounded alarms, and since SAW and QPA have collaborated on initiatives in the past, Zack-Wu said the “merger made so much sense.” QPA’s work primarily focuses on economic justice and labor rights, which contribute to housing security and healthcare access, but without a stable income, people can lose access to those basic human rights.

But while the groups found empowerment in the passage of the Strippers’ Bill of Rights, Seattle’s primarily conservative city council reinstated Stay Out of Drug Areas (SODA) and Stay Out of Areas of Prostitution (SOAP) laws last September despite strong community opposition. Capitol Hill is one of several neighborhoods that has SODA zones, from which people with criminal drug offenses can be banned. And while the SOAP law is intended to target clients and pimps rather than sex workers, people of color have historically been and continue to be targeted by police officers — and Black Trans women make up a large portion of sex workers, according to Prism Reports.

“We’re seeing that going in other places, too,” Taylor Farley, executive director of QPA, told the SGN. “We’ve been standing up against similar areas, and we wanted to make sure that our communities are protected. It just made sense to bring [SAW] into our work as another portion of a space for our communities to be stronger together.”

Tracking the number of sex workers is challenging because of various definitions, according to Zack-Wu. She said she’s seen studies and surveys that estimate 50-70% of sex workers identify as LGBTQIA+.

“It’s pretty safe to assume the majority of them are Queer,” Zack-Wu said. “Sex work is an incredibly common form of labor, and so often people do it without telling the people who are closest to them.”

Combating harmful laws and the merger’s future
 
SAW and QPA recently received a grant from the state Department of Labor and Industries to conduct this advocacy work as a collective. As part of this collaboration, QPA and SAW are asking candidates who are running for leadership positions in Seattle to engage in conversations with the Queer community.

“We know that SOAP and SODA…it’s harming our communities,” Farley emphasized. “It harms LGBTQIA communities and also the establishments we hang out at, and we are asking candidates to join us in conversation.”

On top of pushing back against harmful hyperlocal legislation, SAW will continue its coalition building with the sex work community, which includes partnering with people who have lived experiences in the industry, developing long-term strategies to repeal SOAP laws, and increase harm reduction, Zack-Wu said.

“I do hope that our work continues to amplify how many different communities and intersectional communities we’re representing,” Zack-Wu added. “I think the more we can do that, hopefully the more people in power listen — to not just QPA and SAW but for these large needs and groups representing constituents.”

Farley said Seattle City Councilmember Alexis Mercedes-Rinck (D-8) consistently listens to the needs of the LGBTQIA+ community, and Zack-Wu agreed.

“Look at who is voting on every economic and justice policy,” Zack-Wu said. “I think based on that, we would identify who is listening to us.”

To spread the news of this merger focused on Queer power and sex worker rights, QPA and SAW will be tabling together at events like White Center Pride, Latinx Pride, Trans Pride Seattle, PNW Black Pride, and Alki Beach Pride.

“As for the future, this merger is just the beginning of a great relationship,” Farley said. “QPA has been working tirelessly on other initiatives that support our communities, and is in partnerships with a lot of different organizations in building a collective voice across Washington state. This is an opportunity for voices for the SAW group to continue to do their work across Washington state so that we aren’t just here in Seattle or the King County area.”