Sex for pay? No, I'm gay!

Prosecutors anticipate a "lesbian defense" against prostitution charges

Published January 22, 2010 8:01PM (EST)

Now here's a creative new way to fight prostitution charges: The lesbian defense. It's the argument prosecutors have anticipated in a case against Cassandra Malandri and Falynn Rodriguez, two strippers accused of offering to sleep with a police officer for $5,000. The idea being that a woman can't possibly have sex for pay with a man if she's into women -- because, as we all know, prostitutes only have sex with paying customers they find irresistibly attractive. 

The concept is hilariously absurd and isn't being entertained for even a moment by the women's defense attorney, Ikiesha Al-Shabazz. "It doesn't even make sense," she told the AFP. No, it sure doesn't. Nonetheless, the prosecution has subpoenaed a man believed to be engaged to Malandri. At the first sign of a lesbian defense, they will be ready to call the fiance to the stand. I can only imagine that argument: "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, this woman is heterosexual! Therefore, she was capable of having sex with a man for money."

The trial is shaping up to be quite a circus: Earlier this week, the defense tried to get the case tossed out over a ... conjunction. In the charges filed, the word "and" was incorrectly used instead of "or." In that light, I suppose the prosecution's anticipated lesbian defense seems somewhat less far-fetched.


By Tracy Clark-Flory

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