On World Day Against Trafficking, California chose justice – and the world should take note. 

By Marjorie Saylor, member of SPACE intl.

On July 30th, World Day Against Trafficking in Persons, California did something extraordinary.

Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 379 into law. And with it, he signed a message to survivors: you matter. We hear you. We will protect you.

This bill didn’t just change the law, it called out what’s been ignored for years: buyers and enablers walking free while the people they exploited were criminalized and left to navigate the lifelong effects of trauma inflicted upon them.

AB 379, authored by California Assemblymember Nick Schultz and originally championed by Assemblymember Maggy Krell, makes it a felony to buy sex from a minor aged 16 or 17. It also reinstates a misdemeanor charge for loitering with the intent to buy sex: a long-missing accountability tool that will now fund survivor services with its increased penalty fines.

This victory didn’t come easily though. It came through survivor testimony, countless meetings, and through a storm of political pushback, misinformation, and fearmongering. But myself and others never stopped speaking….and this time, California listened.

Survivors have fought for years to be seen not just as victims of crime but as human beings failed by systems that often left them behind. AB 379 marks a turning point: a rare moment when the law aligns with lived experience, and survivors aren’t just consulted, but believed.

This bill matters to survivors like me personally. We were the children and young adults sold on street corners and behind motel doors. The people buying us…men with money, status, and power …were rarely arrested, let alone named as perpetrators. It was easier to arrest us than to ask who was paying. The culture has treated sex buyers as harmless “johns,” while treating exploited people as criminals.

This law begins to correct that injustice. It shifts focus to those who create demand, the sex buyers. It affirms that knowingly purchasing access to a teenager’s body is not a mistake. It’s a felony. It’s exploitation. It’s NOT paid consent.

Opponents of the bill warned it could lead to unintended consequences for undocumented communities. I heard their concerns, and understand the pain of living in fear of the criminal legal system. But AB 379 does not target immigrants. It targets predators…many of whom are wealthy and privileged. It protects the very people the opposition claimed to speak for. The immigrant trafficking victims. The marginalized. The youth. The people like me who were preyed upon and needed a way out.

Make no mistake: this is a message not just to California, but to the world.

For too long, trafficking prevention efforts have focused narrowly on education and awareness, without ever confronting the demand that fuels the entire industry. Too often, survivor voices have been drowned out by louder, more “palatable” narratives…ones that frame prostitution as empowerment, profit off our exploitation, or erase the violence entirely.

But that narrative is crumbling. Slowly but surely, truth is being heard: the sex trade is not liberation. It’s often the result of coercion, poverty, abuse, racism, and desperation. The buyers know that and exploit it.

Now, California is showing that a better way is possible. A way that centers on survivors. A way that creates consequences for those who exploit, instead of punishing those who are exploited.

This past World Day Against Trafficking in Persons provided a monumental movement forward as California survivors have more than just hope…we have progress. We have proof that when survivors speak, and leaders listen, change can happen.

And for every survivor still stuck in the life, both youth or adult whose value has been reduced to a dollar amount, for every advocate exhausted by politics and delay, let this victory be a sign: we are not done.

We will continue to fight for a future where no child is bought or sold, where no victim is ignored, and where no predator walks free simply because of who he is or how much he can pay.

To Governor Newsom, Assemblymembers Schultz, Krell, and all the lawmakers who stood with survivors: thank you. To every survivor who spoke out even when it hurt: thank you. And to the opposition: thank you for having the hard conversations that help us sharpen our voice, strengthen our resolve, and prove that no amount of political noise can silence truth. The world is watching, and the tide is turning.