Argentine rent boy faces life for killing Scots conductor

What a shame!

I have a friend who was gang raped when he answered a gay personal ad and believed that he obtained aids through that encounter.

The silent screen hearthrob, Ramon Novello, who also did some singing and brought Mexican musical culture to Hollywood through a theater that he maintained on his property, was murdered by two young male hustlers brothers, who obtained entry to his home by lying saying that they were recommended by someone that Novello knew. The older brother said that he badly beat Novello, not meaning to kill him, because he was so upset that he was forced into this because of their circumstances and he did not want his younger brother to see him have sex with a man.

I have also read the story of someone who started an organization to help prostitutes in California who stated that because he was so upset about being forced into gay prostitution, he beat up a john so badly that he may have killed him; he did not check.

However, the reason is not the excuse. There is no excuse for a prostitute to use violence against a customer unless he or she is directly violently threatened.

Nevertheless, although there are exceptions, most prostitutes, while they may not legally be minors, although some are, are mainly young people forced into prostitution by circumstances. They are frequently exploited, and sometimes even made the downright slaves, by pimps who beat them and sometimes encourage or even demand illicit drug usage to keep their prostitutes thin and dependent.

I personally am very ambivalent about the legalization of prostitution as I am about illicit drug use or even alcohol usage, and I have worked as a nurse in drug and alcohol rehabs.

Philosophically I believe that prostitution, whether straight or gay, is very sad. Although in yesteryear it may have been a response to various restrictions on sexual activity, nowadays, at least in western countries, it reflects the alienation of so many individuals in this society and the loneliness and lack of emotional intimacy in so many people’s lives. Also, it turns people into literal sex objects when all persons should be considered to have infinite value and worth.

View from America, the opera has already been written about the psychological, economic, cultural and political dynamics behind prostitution, Lulu.

Of course, there are those who cynically say that most sex, even in many cases in marriage, is transactional anyway and prostitution is just more honest about it!

Those who oppose legalized prostitution say that in addition to the exploitation of the prostitute the law acts as a teaching tool. Legalized prostitution teaches that the objectification of others as mere tools for sexual gratification is o.k. It gives society the excuse not to correct the cultural, social, economic, and political problems and abuses which lead to prostitution.

On the other hand, I remember hearing the story, or perhaps it was just a legend, that our curse word for coitus came from the medieval or Renaissance English king who, in order to raise money for the government, set up government brothels, Fornication Under the Consent of the King.

Perhaps the king had a point. Legalized prostitution, under very strict regulation and supervision, will prevent some of the worst abuses, namely the pimp system and the violence perpetrated against both the customer and the prostitute. One does not hear about violence in legal brothels in Nevada or in Amsterdam, nor in pharmacies that sell heroin and cocaine in the Netherlands. It will also prevent prostitutes from spreading sexually transmitted diseases. In addition, it can also raise tax dollars which can be used for rehabilitation of addicts and prostitutes through rehab centers, job training etc.

I wonder that if Torres were able to obtain employment at a decent wage in Argentina or a work visa in Spain, and if Ferguson would have been able to find steady work as a conductor or in a music job where he could have been self supporting in Scotland, would this have happened?

Justice must be done but may both the families of Ferguson and Torres, and Torres himself, find peace.