From prostitute to Bx. council hopeful
A former prostitute who was busted in a police sting is running to become the first trans woman on the City Council, representing the heart of The Bronx.
Elisa Crespo, 30, is one of several candidates seeking to succeed outgoing Councilman Ritchie Torres in the 15th Council District representing Belmont, Fordham, Tremont, Mount Hope, Allerton, Van Nest, West Farms and Bedford Park.
Torres — the first openly gay person to get elected in the borough — is vacating the seat in January after being elected to Congress. A special election to replace him is expected to take place in March.
Crespo’s candidacy is a remarkable comeback story.
She was arrested in Jacksonville, Fla., on November 14, 2012, after posting a sex/escort ad on the Internet. The two men who showed up at her hotel room for oral sex were undercover cops on the Jacksonville police vice squad who arrested her for prostitution.
“I am no longer engaged in sex work,” Crespo told The Post. But far from running away from her past, she is addressing her work as a “survival sex worker” head-on.
Crespo, who transitioned to female at 15, said being arrested triggered a turnaround in her life.
“I was in a complicated struggle to make ends meet. A lack of job opportunities for trans women of color led me to sex work. Through this experience, I wound up in Florida, where I was arrested and incarcerated with cisgender men.
That moment transformed my life forever. It helped me begin my journey in civic engagement,” Crespo said during a political rally.
She earned a degree in political science from CUNY’s John Jay College, interned with Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) and currently serves as an education aide to Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.
She told The Post she’s concerned that critics or rivals are attempting to “weaponize transphobia” by dredging up her arrest.
“It’s shameful. People are upset at the momentum my campaign is getting,” she said.
Crespo — a dues-paying member of the Democratic Socialists of America’s Bronx chapter — told The Post she supports state legislation to decriminalize prostitution by no longer punishing paid sex between two consulting adults. “Sex work is work,” she said. Crespo said she turned tricks to support her mother — who was in an abusive relationship — as well as herself.
“It’s an unfortunate fact that trans woman and sex work go hand in hand,” she told empoweredtranswoman.com. “It’s not something I wanted to do. It’s dangerous. We’re putting ourselves in front of strangers that we don’t know who can harm us.”
Now Crespo wants to be a role model and trailblazer in politics.
“I feel the very weight of my community on my shoulders. It’s very important for me to show people we can do this. We’re not defined by our past,” she said.