5 Countries Where Queer Sex Work is Legal or Decriminalized

Sex work is work — and often, it's queer work. Australian sex worker Tilly Lawless estimates that as many as "fifty per cent of the people she works with in the sex industry are queer". The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) reports that "members of the community — particularly LGBTQ people of color, LGBTQ immigrants, and transgender people — are more likely to be sex workers."

And as Juana Maria Rodríguez, author of the book Puta Life: Seeing Latinas, Working Sex , puts it," Sex workers have always been part of queer history, and queers have always been part of sex worker movements ."

Juana Maria Rodríguez: Sex work is a queer issue - Berkeley NewsUC Berkeley professor discusses her new book Puta Life and how the history of sex work is intertwined with the queer community’s most pressing issuesBerkeley NewsIvan Natividad

But what if you're a queer digital nomad with an OnlyFans account, or a freelance dominatrix moving to a new country? Can you take your work with you? In some countries, sex workers have the same rights as other sole traders — but in other countries, it's only legal for citizens and permanent residents.

Here are five countries where it's legal to do sex work — and why the distinction between legalization and decriminalization matters.

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