As members of the adult entertainment industry, we feel it is our responsibility to raise awareness of and prevent the gross abuses of human trafficking with ongoing initiatives around major sporting events, like the upcoming NFL playoffs.
DENVER, CO (PRWEB) January 10, 2014
Club Operators Against Sex Trafficking (C.O.A.S.T.), a national organization of strip club owners dedicated to preventing sex trafficking, announces an initiative to raise awareness about this crime during the Denver Broncos playoff games. The campaign coincides with National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, where C.O.A.S.T. will inform football fans about this growing problem and provide resources available to help victims.
Amid fanfare of major sporting events such as the NFL Playoffs, victims often go unnoticed. In an excerpt from an interview published by USA Today in February 2011, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott called the Super Bowl, held in Dallas, the single largest human trafficking event in the United States. (http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-01-31-child-prostitution-super-bowl_N.htm)
“Sex trafficking is one of the most profound abuses of human rights in modern society, yet the scope of the problem is too often ignored, particularly when it comes to celebrated events like the Super Bowl,” explains Michael Ocello, COAST chairman and owner of the PT’s family of clubs including Diamond Cabaret, La Boheme, The Penthouse Club and two PT’s Showclubs in Denver.
Co-founded in 2010, C.O.A.S.T. is a leading advocate for victims of sex trafficking. With support from United States Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and ACE National, Ocello helps raise awareness in local communities so residents can recognize potential victims. During the 2013 World Series in St. Louis, Ocello and his colleagues printed 13,000 “baseball cards” about sex trafficking that their staffs distributed at the World Series. (http://www.ksdk.com/story/homepage/2013/10/25/strippers-world-series-human-sex-trafficking/3206293/)