“I don’t know where in his Quran it states that it’s ok for a woman to be on the streets selling their body” Adams said.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams sharply criticized mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani on Sunday, condemning the Democrat’s past support for decriminalizing prostitution.
Speaking to reporters, Adams invoked religious terms to denounce the proposal. “I can’t be more clear. I’m a man of God, just as Mamdani says he’s a Muslim. I don’t know where in his Quran it states that it’s ok for a woman to be on the streets selling their body,” Adams said. “I don’t know what Quran he is reading. It’s not in my Bible.”
The mayor argued that Mamdani’s stance overlooks victims of trafficking. “You’re not doing any service to a woman who is on the street who is forced to sell her body for whatever reason,” Adams said.
Mamdani, a 33-year-old socialist and state assemblyman, has previously advocated changing state law to remove penalties for sex work. While vocal on the issue during earlier campaigns, he has been largely silent about it since launching his mayoral run.
Adams, seeking reelection as an independent, warned the policy would endanger New York. “Our city needs to be a safe city. It should not be a city where women are standing on corners, or boys are standing on corners, or young men standing on corners selling their bodies,” he said.