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Welcome!

Chanelle Gallant is an abolitionist feminist who has been fighting to free women’s sexuality from criminalization for over 25 years, as a frontline organizer, writer, thinker, strategist and money mover. In 2025, she broke the story of ICE deportations of migrant sex workers (with Kate Zen), but long before the rise of social media, her work had already been discussed in legacy media with a reach of a billion people (according to Agence France Press).

She is the co-author of Not Your Rescue Project: Migrant Sex Workers Fighting for Justice and has contributed to dozens of influential publications including Pleasure Activism, Abolish Social Work (As We Know It), Disarm, Defund, Dismantle: Police Abolition in Canada and Race, Class and Gender in America (12th edition). Chanelle has presented everywhere from Princeton, Columbia Law, and the London School of Economics to the UN Special Rapporteur on Modern Slavery and the Canadian federal parliament. 

She is a visting-scholar at the Centre for Feminist Research at York University, Toronto and is developing an international project examining the connections between sex, capitalism and fascism. 

Chanelle comes from a family that has been directly impacted by poverty, the war on drugs and the criminalization of sex work. As a young feminist, she cut her teeth in the historic fight against the Pussy Palace raid which effectively ended Toronto police raids on queer sex venues, and again in national and local fights to decriminalize sex work and end racist enforcement practices.

Since then, Chanelle helped to organize the first Sex Worker Track at the People’s Social Forum, hosted the first national gathering of Black, Indigenous and street-based sex workers and has worked on campaigns to keep the police out of sex work businesses, massage parlors, and out of public schools. As a fundraiser and donor advisor, she has helped to unlock millions of dollars for frontline organizing.

Chanelle founded the Feminist Porn Awards, and co-founded numerous sex work organizations and projects, the Migrant Sex Worker Project, SURJ-Toronto, and most recently 100 Roses in Los Angeles. She now sits on the national board for multiple organizations in the US (including Los Angeles) and Toronto.

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My Book

Not Your Rescue Project:
Migrant Sex Workers Fighting for Justice

Not Your Rescue Project: Migrant Sex Workers Fighting for Justice is a landmark abolitionist primer on migration, sex work, policing, and the "anti-trafficking industry"β€”and a powerful argument about who is really leading the way toward justice: migrant sex workers themselves.


Hire Me

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money coaching + advising

Money doesn’t have to be so challenging. For over two decades, I’ve worked with hundreds of peopleβ€”activists, donors, foundation staff, and fundraisersβ€”helping them develop more grounded, purposeful relationships with money. From grassroots cabaret fundraisers to managing multi-million-dollar giving portfolios, I’ve seen how engaging with money can call people into a clearer and more aligned version of themselves. If you're ready to build a more purposeful, values-aligned relationship with moneyβ€”especially through redistributing wealth in support of social and economic justiceβ€”I’d love to connect. Whether through coaching, advising, or strategy, I’m here to help.

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Organizations I Work With

  • SURJ logo

    Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) National is a home for white people working for justice. When we fight racism, we all win. We want you on our team.

  • Butterfly logo

    Butterfly: Asian and Migrant Sex Workers Support Network advocates for the rights of sex workers in Toronto and beyond.

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    Looking to organize for sex workers’ rights, racial justice, and resourcing our movements? Check out these other organizations that I love and respect.


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