page_title: Prostitution in Rhode Island
section_title: Help and support for male sex workers
hierarchical_section_title: Prostitution in Rhode Island / Help and support for male sex workers
caption_attribution_description: English: Rich Holcomb and James Waterman of Project Weber poster at the 2010 HIV/AIDS Leadership Summit in Washington DC.
context_page_description: Prostitution in Rhode Island was outlawed in 2009. On November 3, 2009, Republican Governor Donald Carcieri signed into law a bill which makes the buying and selling of sexual services a crime.
  Prostitution was legal in Rhode Island between 1980 and 2009 because there was no specific statute to define the act and outlaw it, although associated activities were illegal, such as street solicitation, running a brothel, and pimping. With the passing of the law, Nevada became the only U.S. state which allows legal prostitution.
context_section_description: In the United States and other places, there are few resources and little support readily available for male sex workers working or living on the streets. Men and boys in this situation may face many issues. They may be at a higher risk for health problems and abuse. Male street prostitutes may have issues such as drug addiction. Offering support and health care to such stigmatized people can be difficult due to a reluctance to disclose information about their work to health care professionals, which can also make male prostitutes difficult to identify in order to reach out to.
  In recent years some organizations directed specifically at helping male sex workers have been founded and some studies have begun being done on this little-studied population. For example, Richard Holcomb, a former sex worker, founded 'Project Weber', a harm reduction program in Providence, Rhode Island that offers resources and support to male sex workers living on the streets, including a needle exchange and HIV testing. Holcomb cited the lack of data available on male commercial sex workers in the region as his reason for helping develop a 2010 survey to assess the needs of this population. Project Weber recruited and surveyed 50 male sex workers living on the streets of Providence. Holcomb cited the fact that he and members of his team are former sex workers themselves as one of the primary reasons why they were able to gain access to the men in order to conduct this survey. The project says they have gleaned valuable data on male sex workers who work and live on the streets of Providence. Holcomb has also created several documentaries meant to draw attention to the subjects of male street prostitution and drug use.
caption: Rich Holcomb and James Waterman displaying the Project Weber poster at the 2010 HIV Prevention Summit in Washington, D.C.
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