This position requires that you be a highly motivated self-starter, organized and able to juggle a variety of pressing projects without “missing a beat” (i.e. able to independently meet important deadlines).  Moreover, you must be knowledgeable and skilled in the basic elements of government and foundation grant writing. Ability to be flexible with work schedule is a must.  While this position is slated for 15 hours a week minimum, some weeks will require more hours to meet grant deadlines.

Gender, sexual orientation, race/ethnic, and class minorities encouraged to apply. People from the sex industry, people with disabilities or people from other marginalized communities are also encouraged to apply.

The deadline to apply is March 1st, 2010.

Why it Matters

Celebration of the Federal Needle Exchange funding ban LIFT!
& Emergency CA Needle Exchange Program Fund Benefit
Silent Auction, Entertainment, Food & Drink, Fabulous People

January 28, 2010
6 pm to midnight
111 Minna St, San Francisco, CA
$25 Suggested Door

Emergency Fund Website

Co-sponsors include: Harm Reduction Coalition, Cannabis Buyer’s Club of Berkeley,  Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Harvey Milk Democratic Club, Drug Policy Alliance, El Camino Wellness Center Collective

Meanwhile, below is a reminder of our current services and hours:

Drop-In Needle Distribution & Disposal Tuesdays: 3-6pm

Drop-In Tuesdays: 3-6pm (DOORS OPEN AT 2:45PM, last intake at 5:30)
Rapid HIV Testing (with same day results)
Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI) Counseling and Testing
Holistic Services
Peer Counseling
Food/Clothing

Drop-In & Appointment Wednesdays: 6-9pm (DOORS OPEN AT 5:30PM, last intake at 8:30)
Drop-In Primary Medical Care 7:30pm-9:00pm
Appointment Primary Medical Care (please call 415-554-9634 for Appointments @ 6:00pm, 6:30 & 7:30pm)
Holistic Services
HIV/STI Counseling and Testing
Peer Counseling
Food/Clothing

Appointment Thursdays: 1:30-4pm
STRIDE Transgender Healthcare and Hormone Therapy Program. By Appointment ONLY.
(please call 415-554-8491 or email for availability)

Coming Soon: Thursday afternoon Drop-In/Appointment Testing & Counseling

Drop-In Peer Education Trainings are suspended until further notice.

Please check the Clinic Calendar for up to date scheduling information.

In keeping with our tradition, the clinic will be closed for services the last two week of December. This gives the staff a much needed respite to practice personal harm reduction, kindness and self-care.  We also use this valuable time to plan for any changes for the New Year.

With the exception of needle distribution and recovery services on Tuesdays from 3-6pm, all other clinic serivces will be postponed from December 22nd -December 31st, 2009.

We will re-open for clinic services on January 5th, 2010.

Happy HoHoHo-lidays! ]]> http://stjamesinfirmary.org/?feed=rss2&p=682 0 http://stjamesinfirmary.org/?p=674 http://stjamesinfirmary.org/?p=674#comments Sat, 19 Dec 2009 05:38:23 +0000 naomiakers http://stjamesinfirmary.org/?p=674

Contact: Kimberlee Cline
Phone: 877-776-2004 ext. 2
Email: press(at)swopusa(dot)org

This December 17th marks the 7th annual International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers. Events are being planned in over two dozen countries and in dozens of cities. In San Francisco, sex workers Annie Sprinkle and Kimberlee Cline will host a remembrance ritual and a solidarity stroll down Market Street.

This annual event was created in 2003 in response to Gary Ridgway a.k.a. the Green River Killer’s trial and his brutal statements about choosing prostitutes because he could “get away with it.” Many believe that the Green River Killer did in fact get away with it in the Seattle area for over 20 years because of law enforcement’s disinterest in solving the murders of prostitutes and society’s general acceptance of violence against sex workers.

“If the victims had been teachers, nurses or secretaries or other women, I suspect–as Ridgway did– that the killer would have been caught much sooner.” Says Annie Sprinkle, Ph.D. a former prostitute and adult film star of twenty years, turned sexologist and artist. “While I personally feel that I came out of the sex industry a winner, I’m aware that there are those that aren’t as lucky as I was and are real victims of bad laws, whore-phobic hate crimes, rape and worse. It’s so important to remember those people, and to let the public know we care and we need and deserve safer working conditions.”

In 2008, San Francisco voters narrowly turned down Proposition K, an initiative that would have created more safety measures for sex workers in the City. “There is a distinct difference between consensually providing sexual services and being forced or trafficked. Efforts by opponents of Prop K to conflate these two very different scenarios confused voters. I’m speaking out about this because I think that when voters hear real stories from people like me and understand that criminalization is doing all of us more harm than good, they will support our reform efforts,” stated Kimberlee Cline, a woman working in San Francisco independently as an escort and adult film model.

Sex workers, their friends, the victims families, clients, supporters and people who want to learn more about these issues are invited to come together at Femina Potens, an art gallery owned and run by sex worker Madison Young for a memorial vigil ceremony. “As sex workers we open up our souls, our bodies, our minds and our spirits to guide others through to sexual pleasure and enlightenment.,” says Young, “We are educators, we are mentors, we are gladiators and athletes, performance artists using our bodies as a material for your entertainment and pleasure. We are survivors of a world that is so often ashamed by its sexual desires and frightened to engage in communication about sexual needs. This day, this moment is to acknowledge the damage that this fear, shame and hatred has inflicted upon our fellow sex workers. And I do hope that through our awareness and visibility we might prevent further injustices and cultivate compassion.”

After the ceremony will be a Solidarity Stroll down Market street, with people carrying red umbrellas (the symbol of the sex workers rights movement) and signs with names and photos of those victims that will be remembered. The stroll will end at the St. James Infirmary.

Media are welcome at the pre-event press conference, at the memorial, and for the stroll.

For more information about the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers, see Annie Sprinkle’s article “Remembering Our Dead and Wounded”

* Who: Annie Sprinkle, Kimberlee Cline, SWOP-SF
* What: International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers
* When: Press Conference 6:00-7:00pm
Ceremony 7:00-8:30pm
Solidarity Stroll: to the St. James Infirmary 8:30- 9:30pm

* Where: Femina Potens Art Gallery
2199 Market St
San Francisco, CA 94114

On the following evening a night of spoken word performance by Bay Area sex workers will be hosted at the Center for Sex and Culture. Details:

Ecstacies & Elegies: In Honor of International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers
Friday, December 18th, 2009
7:30 doors, 8pm show
Center for Sex & Culture, 1519 Mission Street @ 11th, San Francisco
$10-20 sliding scale (nobody turned away)

With the exception of needle distribution and recovery services on Tuesdays from 3-6pm, all other clinic serivces will be postponed from December 22nd -December 31st, 2009.

We will re-open for clinic services on January 5th, 2010.

Starting in February 2010, we will be offering appointment hours for STI and HIV testing services on Thursday afternoons.  Stay tuned for more on this new service.

Location: 1372 Mission Street @10th

When: Thursday, December 10, 2009

6:00pm-8:00pm

“Criminalization, legalization or decriminalization  of sex work: what female sex workers say in San Francisco, USA”
By Alexandra Lutnick and Deborah Cohan
Published in Reproductive Health Matters

Sex work is a criminal offence in San Francisco, USA, and sex work advocates have so far unsuccessfully campaigned for decriminalizing it. Some groups argue that the decriminalization movement does not represent the voices of marginalized sex workers. Using qualitative and quantitative data from the Sex Worker Environmental Assessment Team Study, we investigated the perspectives and experiences of a range of female sex workers regarding the legal status of sex work and the impact of criminal law on their work experiences. Forty women were enrolled in the qualitative phase in 2004 and 247 women in the quantitative phase in 2006-07. Overall, the women in this study seemed to prefer a hybrid of legalization and decriminalization. The majority voiced a preference for removing statutes that criminalize sex work in order to facilitate a social and political environment where they had legal rights and could seek help when they were victims of violence. Advocacy groups need to explore the compromises sex workers are willing to make to ensure safe working conditions and the same legal protections afforded to other workers, and with those who are most marginalized to better understand their immediate needs and how these can be met through decriminalization.

Speakers (confirmed):

Naomi Akers, St. James Infirmary (San Francisco, California)

The Honorable John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI)

John Hassell, UNAIDS (Washington, DC)

The Honorable Jim McDermott (D-WA)

Michele Moloney-Kitts, Office of the US Global AIDS Coordinator

Kolawole Muyideen Oreoluwa, Youth Action for Development

Dr. Steave Nemande, Alternatives (Douala, Cameroon)

This event is FREE and will be at the

Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill
400 New Jersey Avenue, NW
Room: Regency A
Washington, DC 20001

Register Here