Toronto alt-weekly Now Magazine has announced it will continue to publish sex ads in its print and online properties despite a recent ban on advertisements for sexual services. The ban was introduced earlier this month as part of the federal government’s new anti-prostitution law, Bill C-36.
"Now Magazine started taking sex ads because we take ads, that’s how we support ourselves and we have always refused to discriminate against sex work and sex workers," said Alice Klein, co-founder, editor and CEO of the alternative newspaper. "We are committed to free expression and we don’t believe it’s our right to say which advertisers are allowed to advertise and which advertisers aren’t."
Now has retained Alan Young, the Osgoode Hall law professor who won the constitutional challenge that overturned the old prostitution laws, to offer his legal services and opinion on the paper’s right to continue running ads for sex workers.
