A proposed law from the Colorado state General Assembly,

requires the statewide decriminalization of commercial sexual activity among consenting adults .... The bill repeals the state criminal offenses of prostitution, soliciting for prostitution, keeping a place of prostitution, patronizing a prostitute, and prostitute making display.

If passed, Colorado would join Nevada as the only other state to fully legalize and regulate “commercial sexual activity.”

When one steps back and asks, “How did we get here?” two answers are offered. First is a demographic shift that has brought, according to Aaron Renn in City Journal, “California-style blue governance.”

“Migration from California has helped change Colorado from a liberation-infected reddish state into a solid-blue one. And now blue Colorado is starting to turn into California.”

But, in fact, “starting” is not the right word. Colorado is already one of the most progressive states in the nation, and the real shifts came at the hands of libertarians, not Californians. After all, combined registered Republican and Independent voters heavily outnumber registered Democrats in Colorado. The real story of the state is how many voters have been wooed by promises of personal autonomy, and that they will be delivered by an ever-expanding government. This proposed law and the lawmakers who sponsored it are just the latest byproducts of a worldview in operation for some time. After delivering legalized weed, doctor-assisted suicide, and even “magic mushrooms,” we are now sold exploitation as sexual freedom.

And that points to the second ingredient in the Colorado social experiment. This law is yet another attempt to reshape a culture through language. The title of the proposed law is “Decriminalizing Commercial Sexual Activity Among Consenting Adults.” By renaming prostitution, Colorado lawmakers are attempting to normalize seedy, unsafe, and—biblically speaking—sinful behavior. The move mirrors similar actions in other areas. Terms like “gender affirming care” and “reproductive health equity” were ways to destigmatize mutilation, often of minors, and the murder of the preborn.

Policies advance principles. Principles reflect worldviews. This policy is an attempt to celebrate what is both dangerous and evil, something Colorado lawmakers already have a reputation of doing. In 2022, progressives literally danced on the Assembly floor after passing a law protecting abortion up to the moment of birth. In 2023, the legislature voted against making indecent exposure to minors a class 6 felony, out of fear the bill would target drag shows.

The proposed prostitution law makes this startling claim: “Like workers in other fields, sex workers deserve the opportunity to screen their clients to ensure a safe transaction.” Prostitutes are “like workers in other fields.” What happens is a “transaction.”

In reality, prostitution is spiritually, physically, and emotionally damaging. It violates God’s design for individuals and couples, and for a healthy, flourishing society. It carries the potential to create new life but views that life as an unfortunate and disposable byproduct. It promises freedom, but instead exploits and enslaves.

It is especially dangerous for children. A Harvard study found that child sex trafficking increases in areas where prostitution is legal, and that, “[t]he type of legalization of prostitution does not matter—it only matters whether prostitution is legal or not.” Similarly, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation has also documented how prostitution—legalized or not—preys on children. Those who are raised around it experience (among other outcomes) increased “entry” themselves into prostitution as a child. Even radical feminist author Janice G. Raymond argued in her book Not a Choice, Not a Job that a consistent outcome of prostitution is how it affects children. That makes sense within a Christian worldview, which explains the tragic consequences of sexual sin as never only including consenting parties, but always others as well.

Called to be agents of renewal and reconciliation, Christians should ask, “What is broken around us that we can restore?” Clearly, false notions of libertarian freedom cannot hold back the sexual brokenness all around us. Nor can they offer anything restorative or healing to the victims of exploitation.

The biblical vision of holy sexuality is framed within God’s grand story of Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration. As Dr. Christopher Yuan put it,

Holy sexuality consists of two paths: chastity in singleness and faithfulness in marriage. Chastity is more than simply abstention from extra-marital sex; it conveys purity and holiness. Faithfulness is more than merely maintaining chastity and avoiding illicit sex; it conveys covenantal commitment.

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