Branding the raid a “digital Stonewall,” roughly 70 LGBT activists blasted Brooklyn federal prosecutors Thursday for busting up popular online escort site rentboy.com last week.
Holding signs and chanting, the raucous group gathered in front of the Brooklyn federal courthouse to demand that all charges against employees at the multimillion-dollar enterprise be dropped immediately.
The activists — including current sex workers who advertised their services on the site — argued that the feds should not be allocating resources to policing consensual sex.
Shouting “Bl–jobs, not no jobs” and “Sex work is real work,” the protesters suggested that the operation was aimed at gays and transgender sex workers.
Several attendees cited graphic sexual descriptions in the complaint against the rentboy.com staffers as peculiarly prurient and unnecessary.
The website — which has since gone dark because of the bust — helped to protect sex workers who would otherwise risk harm on unpredictable streets or operate through less reputable online outlets like Craigslist or Backpage.com, several protesters said.
“It is taking away from the safety of the people who are doing this work,” said organizer Bill Dobbs.
Federal agents arrested a total of seven men — including owner Jeffrey Hurant — last week and hit them with prostitution and money laundering raps.
All of the defendants are out on bail and will return to court at a later date as their cases progress.
Escorts paid the site to list their services. Prosecutors said the 17-year-old company pulled in $10 million over the past five years alone.