"Unbeknownst to many, the Super Bowl is arguably the single largest sex trafficking incident in the United States. Each year, the city that welcomes droves of party-minded Super Bowl fans also (unknowingly) hosts increased incidents of underage prostitution."

Apparently, that turned out to be a complete falsehood.

Kate Mogulescu, founder and supervising attorney of the Trafficking Victims Advocacy Project at the Legal Aid Society, wrote an Op-Ed piece in the New York Times saying there is no substantiation to these claims.

"No data actually support the notion that increased sex trafficking accompanies the Super Bowl. The Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women, a network of nongovernmental organizations, published a report in 2011 examining the record on sex trafficking related to World Cup soccer games, the Olympics and the Super Bowl. It found that, 'despite massive media attention, law enforcement measures and efforts by prostitution abolitionist groups, there is no empirical evidence that trafficking for prostitution increases around large sporting events.'

"Even with this lack of evidence, the myth has taken hold through sheer force of repetition, playing on desires to rescue trafficking victims and appear tough on crime. Whether the game is in Dallas, Indianapolis or New Orleans, the pattern is the same: Each Super Bowl host state forms a trafficking task force to 'respond' to the issue; the task force issues a foreboding statement; the National Football League pledges to work with local law enforcement to address trafficking; and news conference after news conference is held. The actual number of traffickers investigated or prosecuted hovers around zero."

The Super Bowl sex-trafficking hype isn't just unfounded, though - it is actively harmful because it creates bad policy. In the days leading up to Sunday's game, local law enforcement dedicated tremendous resources to targeting everyone engaged in prostitution.

"As the supervising attorney of a project at the Legal Aid Society that represents nearly all of the people arrested on prostitution charges throughout New York City, I know firsthand the devastating consequences that aggressive arrest practices can have for both trafficked and non-trafficked people engaging in prostitution. Many, but not all, of our clients are, in fact, trafficked, and many more have survived an extensive amount of brutality, violence and trauma. Turning them into defendants and pushing them through the criminal justice system contradicts any claim of assistance," added Mogulescu.

The New York Police Department said it made 298 prostitution-related arrests through Jan. 26. In Manhattan - a borough that has approximately 300 arrests for prostitution a year - there have been more than 100 arrests in the past several days. When Midtown Community Court opened on Wednesday morning, 25 women arrested on Tuesday night were sitting in holding cells waiting to be arraigned after a sting operation at the Marriott Marquis hotel in Midtown.

So the Episcopal Church, in its desire to show up massive sex traffickers, parades its hollow claims along with all its hype about anti-racism training for racists that either don't exist or they are not willing to identify. Ditto for homophobes. Anybody who opposes homogenital behavior is a homophobe. It's the great lie of course, but now Episcopal elites have really shown themselves up as purveyors of lies. Orthodox Episcopalians and now the secular media say that organizations like the Episcopal Church are mischief makers causing more harm than good with their allegations about sex trafficking, leading to bad public policy perpetuated by the church's elite.

Human sex trafficking is a problem, make no mistake about it and women are being exploited, but the Episcopal Church's answer - indiscriminately scapegoating white males - is no more an answer than endless blaming white males for all the racists in the Church that no one can find.

"Remove the guise of 'preventing' human trafficking, and we are left with a cautionary tale of how efforts to clean up the town for a media event rely on criminalizing people, with long-lasting implications for those who are then trapped in the criminal justice system. If we continue to perpetuate fallacies like the Super Bowl sex-trafficking phenomenon, we will continue to perpetuate the harm caused by prostitution arrests in the name of helping victims," wrote Ms. Mogulescu.

Will we see a mea culpa or apology from the Presiding Bishop or the Episcopal Public Policy Network? Don't hold your breath.

END