Read: Justin Vivian Bond on the Rentboy Raid

"I was asked to make a statement to the NYTimes earlier today about my thoughts on the Rentboy.com travesty," performance artist and Out100 honoree Justin Vivian Bond wrote on V's (Bond's preferred pronoun) Facebook page. "Not sure what they'll print but look for the full article to appear sometime this evening. In the meantime I thought I'd share the full transcript of what I sent them with all of you:"

"I think that to many in our community this feels like a throwback to when the police raided gay bars in the 50s and 60s...

This is about workers' rights--labor rights and equal protections for all kinds of workers without basic access to legal and healthcare support because they are deemed criminals or denied access to banking, housing or Facebook, in all sectors of the Adult industry, not just escorts. It's about sex phobia and public shaming.

Mainly, I feel that this is a perfect example of the hypocrisy of mainstream patriarchal culture and the government... I mean, is this really a "Homeland Security Issue?" I don't think so. A gay man in Brooklyn who happens to have a "rimchair" is hardly the equivalent of someone on a commuter train with an AK-47. Years of undercover work and untold amounts of city and federal taxpayer dollars were spent on this this undercover sting operation and who was being harmed? Nobody."

Read the full piece on Bond's official Facebook page.