Kitt Knight
any pronouns
sex worker and president of SWOON Alliance
As president of the nonprofit organization SWOON Alliance, Kitt Knight advocates for the rights of sex workers and connects them with nonjudgmental local resources as well as a space to find community.
“What we provide is basic resources and helping out any sex worker, whether they are still working or trying to get out of the industry,” Kitt explained. “We’re not going to teach you how to become a sex worker but how to find safe resources.”
The organization got its start as SWOP Pittsburgh, a local branch of the national Sex Workers Outreach Project, but it became an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit last year.
“We had a board come together, and we made that step because we thought it would benefit the community,” Kitt said, noting that the right people were in the right place at the right time. “There was such a big need in the community for resources. One of our hugest programs is the cash relief, which has allowed parents to be able to feed their children, to pay their rent.”
Another resource that Kitt organized is Kitt’s Klawset, based at QMNTY Center, which provides free clothing to anyone who needs it.
“All of my stuff is donation based, so I get all donations from buy nothing groups and different demographics and ages,” Kitt said. “It’s very amazing because I’ve been able to connect with the community as well. By reaching out to folks for clothes, I’m able to connect those people to our organization, but also we’re all about advocating for sex worker rights and just the stigma behind sex workers.”
Advocacy for Kitt can be anything from tabling at resource fairs to just talking to people about SWOON Alliance and the work they do.
“From my experience, I’ve found being out in any event in the streets really is the best way of advocating face to face, being able to put a just a face behind an organization that is friendly and welcoming, and being able to answer questions, understanding that people are definitely going to be ignorant,” Kitt said. “What I do with community outreach is try to destigmatize sex work in the community.”
Kitt said that most of their advocacy work isn’t “big lobbying teams with signs,” but they were part of a group that successfully lobbied the City of Pittsburgh to reduce criminal penalties for sex work. While the penalties have not completely gone away, sex workers previously faced up to a year in jail and a $1,500 fine.
“Now, after talking to city council and sex worker testimony, we were able to get it down to no jail time and $100, which we have a bail fund for,” Kitt said, noting that they testified as part of the process.
For now, these reduced penalties only apply within Pittsburgh city limits, but Kitt said it’s a start. “Sex work is just a job, and the fact that people are being criminalized for it really harmful.”
The work continues to decriminalize sex work, an uphill battle considering the amount of stigma surrounding sex workers.
“You never know who you’re talking about, and you never know why someone is doing what they’re doing,” Kitt said. “Be inquisitive, not judgmental. I’m trying to humanize sex workers to other people. We know we’re human, we know our rights, we know what we deserve. It’s just ending the stigma from others.”