Sex Worker Sunday at Judson Memorial Church: An Interview with Veronica Vera about the Inaugural 2024 Event

ABSTRACT In the autumn of 2024, writer, educator, and pleasure activist Veronica Vera sat down with colleague Joy Brooke Fairfield to discuss the inaugural Sex Worker Sunday at Judson Memorial Church. Known for its dedication to social outreach and its commitment to the arts, Judson (as it’s called) has served as a venue for experimental performance in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan since the late 1950s. With support from the senior minister, Vera conceived of and facilitated Sex Worker Sunday as a stand alone service in conjunction with the international day to honor sex workers, and also as part of the church’s larger vision of reconciliation with marginalized communities who have in the past faced exclusion from Christian places of worship. Vera reflects on the successes and surprises of the event, in the light of her long history as an artist-advocate who has stood up for sex work and the politics of pleasure for the past four decades. As a participant in the early sex workers’ rights movement, Vera sees the future of the movement in increasingly intersectional and inclusive coalitions forged across contexts and generations.