Pro-trans group funds campaign to keep use of prostitutes legal

[IwantToRetire]

A pro-trans group has funded a campaign against men being punished for hiring prostitutes, it can be revealed.

The Esmée Fairbairn Foundation gave nearly £580,000 to a charity lobbying Scottish parliamentarians to oppose legislation that would make it a crime to buy sex, documents show.
National Ugly Mugs, a charity supporting prostitutes, is campaigning against a private members bill currently making its way through Holyrood.

At present, while soliciting in public and brothel-keeping are illegal, paying for sex is legal.

The reforms, spearheaded by <a class="break-all" href="https://archive.is/o/VJX4r/www.telegraph.co.uk/ash-regan" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Ash Regan, the ex-Alba member for Scottish Parliament, would decriminalise the selling of sex and fine those who buy it up to £10,000. It could also give them possible jail sentences as part of a wider approach described as the ‘Nordic model’.

The bill has been <a class="break-all" href="https://archive.is/o/VJX4r/www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/09/19/police-scotland-msp-bill-decriminalise-se/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">backed by Police Scotland and – in principle – SNP ministers, who say it needs more work before they will give it parliamentary support.

But it can now be revealed that Ugly Mugs, the group which has campaigned against the bill, is being funded by one of the UK’s largest progressive foundations.

Since 2017, the charity has received £578,200 in grants from the Esmée Fairbairn foundation.

Article continues at https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/12/15/pro-trans-group-men-hire-prostitutes-no-punishment/

and at https://archive.is/VJX4r

(I am sure there is an existing thread about the bill but cant find it sorry. If you know it please paste into this thread to redicrect posters to that one.)

That might explain some recent posts on here...

"pro trans group"

It always seems to be about trans people on here, no matter what the topic is.

"National Ugly Mugs, a charity supporting prostitutes, is campaigning against a private members bill currently making its way through Holyrood."

And so are Scotland4Decrim, Scot-Pep and the English Collective of Prostitutes. Orgs made up of and representing thousands of prostitutes and former prostitutes across Britain.

If prostitutes themselves are opposed to Nordic Model proposals then I personally think it is important we listen to them. I have linked Scotland4Decrim's Instagram and website.

https://www.instagram.com/scotland4decrim/

scotlandfordecrim.org/

It's funny how on a board full of women trying to protect women and children the problem often appears to be or have links to "trans". Only it's not funny at all, it is depressingly predictable.

It seems to me that men and women who sell sex, and men and women who claim to be trans, are similar. They are two groups who should be listened to, but whom are ultimately very vulnerable and often very very damaged, and who very often need society to tell them what is good for them, and not have society simply green-lighting everything they say they want.

If a charity run by children and former children wanted to stop employers from being prosecuted for using child labour, should they be taken seriously?

Probably children who did a paper round not children who have been kidnapped and trafficked too.

Actually probably not a fair comparison. No sort of sex work can be pleasant to do. But my point was most victimised women are least likely to be involved in groups.

And sufficiently desperate people will want to sell a kidney if that's their only way to feed their families. The solution is a better benefit system not legalising kidney-selling.

Bad analogy.

Trafficking, r*pe (including acts like stealth removal of a condom), pimping, underage sexual exploitation etc are all currently illegal in Scotland and the rest of Britain.

AR's bill aims to criminalise the purchase of sex when it takes place between consenting adults.

It is also inaccurate and misleading to say her bill will "decriminalise sex workers." Sex workers are currently criminalised if they work together in Scotland (even if they use the same establishment on different days) and AR's bill has no intent to change this. Another reason why many sex workers campaign against the Nordic Model and instead advocate for complete decriminalisation which NZ, parts of Australia and (as of 2022) Belgium.

A week or two ago Spain rejected a third attempt in parliament at passing the Nordic Model there. Scotland has also fought off multiple attempts in the past 15 years. Worth noting that despite many countries passing it there are also many who reject it.

Prostitute users oppose the Nordic model. Many prostitutes and former prostitutes support it. And prostitution is an evil which needs to be regulated out of existence as far as possible. Making it illegal and preferably shameful to use prostitues is one way to do that.
And there is no right to have sex and suggesting it is a need rather than a want is used as an argument to treat women as things, respositories, for the use of men (as in other 'rights' and 'needs' that treat women as things). .

Many prostitutes and former prostitutes don't support it. Evidence has shown in Nordic Model countries sex workers are "almost always" unwilling to testify against their clients.

https://www.hivlawandpolicy.org/sites/default/files/FinalReport-Risks%2CRights%26Health-EN.pdf 38 report on Sweden's Nordic Model

Despite what AR has said, if her bill is passed in Scotland for any conviction to happen sex workers will need to go to court to testify. That is of course, if the police can catch clients to begin with (not sure how this can actually happen unless you put CCTV inside everyone's homes, hence why Nordic Model N. Ireland had one conviction in 10 years).

https://www.thenational.scot/news/25481086.crown-office-warns-ash-regans-sex-work-bill-unenforceable/

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-67802849

OP: theres a link between TRA and groups against the bill.

Resident TRA: no there isn't! Heres a long post about why the bill is wrong.

Its all mens sexual right activism. Of course there are links.

Female prostitutes have higher PTSD rates than soldiers returning from combat.

"I think it's important we listen to them" and all of that waffle is a dog whistle. Listen to the ones who have made it out of the trade.

The groups I mentioned are made up of and represent both former sex workers as well as active ones.

I think what you and Ash Regan are trying to say is "listen to sex workers but only the ones who agree with my bill". Evidenced by to date AR is still unwilling to meet with sex worker groups like Scotland4Decrim but is happy to meet with the Christian Institute and show them around Scottish Parliament to talk about her bill.

As many women have been saying for a long time the trans lobby is a pro men's sexual rights movement. I'm very concerned that unless women keep on pushing back against them about where we end up, what will they campaign to legalise next? What's the end game? Is there anything men shouldn't be allowed to do to women and children?

Entirely fair. I may well have over-estimated the benefit to be had in listening to active female prostitutes.

To be clear though, when I said "I think it's important we listen to them" that is something that I think is true of any issue. I think it's important to listen to convicted grooming gang rapists, because I think that it might be possible to learn things that enable us to fight grooming gangs, or it might help people realize how evil these men are and that we should punish them more severely. Or there may be some other benefit I have not thought of.

I did not mean to apply that we should take the words of vulnerable or mentally damaged people at face value and do what they say.

If you listen to active prostitutes of either sex, be aware that you are talking to a human being who is being raped for money regularly and who is in a mental state of terror, regardless of how they present. Because rape is what it boils down to. There is not one single little girl on planet earth who dreams of becoming a prostitute when she grows up. It is not a profession, not work, it's horrendous abuse, even more psychologically than physically. A lot of women - and girls (let's be honest) - in the trade cannot recognise this, because then they would break down. Or they had issues with their families growing up. Once they've made it out of the trade (and I'm counting porn and OnlyFans as well), this process may begin but it often results in suicide and also takes decades.