August 20, 2025
The homicide rate for prostitutes is 229 in 100,000 workers, a higher number than other workplace attacks of regular occupations such as liquor store workers, taxi drivers, and U.S. soldiers.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams, who is up for re-election, is opening up about his stance against making prostitution legal, saying as a former cop and a man of Christian faith, he can’t support the narrative.
During an interview, Adams says he wholeheartedly opposes legalizing prostitution, unlike his mayoral opponent Zohran Mamdani, who has openly called for the act to be decriminalized. “No one should be on our streets selling their bodies, no one,” Adams said. However, he went a step further in explaining why his viewpoints are so strong. “And if you believe that’s what it should be, then that’s fine, but the as the mayor of this city, I know what sex trafficking looks like, I know what women who are selling their bodies on the street the abuse they go through, I know the amount of assault on them,” he continued.
“So those who can find a logical reason that a woman should be on the street, or a boy….it’s wrong.”
He also touched on his faith and threw shade at Mamdani, who identifies as Muslim, for supporting legal prostitution and questioned what the holy book of the faith, the Quran, says about it. “I can’t be clearer. I’m a man of God, just as Mamdani says he’s a Muslim. I don’t know where in his Quran it states that it’s OK for a woman to be on the streets selling their body,” Adams said, according to the New York Post.
“I don’t know what Quran he is reading. It’s not in my Bible. As a man who said he is of faith, I don’t quite understand what religion supports prostitution.”
In the eyes of Islam, prostitution is prohibited under its laws of morality. Adams questioned how someone who labels himself as religiously guided could support sex work. Mamdani has taken up the issue of prostitution several times since successfully running for state assembly in 2020 and hasn’t stopped; however, critics have noticed him being seemingly quiet on the topic since throwing his hat in the ring for mayor.
Critics, including Adams, are concerned that he will make a bigger push for prostitution to be legal if he makes it to the mayor’s seat, arguing the candidate is “lost” on the harsh realities of sex work and the crime it attracts. Data from Mercator revealed the homicide rate for prostitutes is 229 in 100,000 workers, a higher number than other workplace attacks of regular occupations, such as liquor store workers, taxi drivers, and U.S. soldiers.
The psychological and physical injury that sex workers often sustain is also alarming, with several suffering from traumatic brain injuries and high rates of suicide and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
However, a spokesperson for Mamdani’s campaign says the assemblyman still supports decriminalizing prostitution and shot back at Adams, saying Mamdani’s viewpoints focus on public safety for all. “Mayor Adams’ reckless budget cut over $3 million in funding from Safe Horizon, putting thousands of victims of crimes related to sex trafficking and prostitution in harm’s way,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
“As Mayor, Zohran will prioritize genuine public safety for all, including investing $40M through his Department of Community Safety towards victim services.”
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