On Jan. 26 the NYPD shut down a dozen backroom bordellos along Queens’ Roosevelt Ave., a notorious red-light district exposed in a series of Post reports. On Jan. 27 YouTube showed at least a dozen more back in business under the caption ‘Still Here!’

By The New York Post Editorial Board

Without any hint of public discussion or hearings, Albany lawmakers are racing to legalize prostitution before the legislative session ends June 6.

They’ve already legalized weed, greenlighted Big Apple casinos and rolled back consequences for most crimes via their disastrous criminal-justice “reforms.”

Now they want to degrade the city further by paving the way for legalized hookers. And without even giving critics a chance to complain in advance.

It’s beyond outrageous.

Politico reports that state Sens. Liz Krueger (D-Manhattan) and Julia Salazar (D-Queens) are backing dueling bills to “reform” the illicit trade.

Krueger would shield “sex workers” and go after only “johns,” while Salazar would legalize every aspect of the harmful industry.

Salazar, a radical Democratic Socialist, bizarrely believes sex workers are both independent entrepreneurs and victims of traffickers as well as prosecutors.

And just as with the botched cannabis legislation, neither has proposed a mechanism to oversee, license and regulate their sex-worker nirvana, compounding the horrors should their bills pass.

In 2021, Gov. Andrew Cuomo already set the leglislative-reform ball in motion, signing a bill to allow “loitering for the purpose of prostitution.

He justified the repeal as ending discrimination against black and transgender sex workers whom he claimed law enforcement had been targeting — never mind that minority residents didn’t support prostitution in their communities.

Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez had actually stopped prosecuting persons arrested for sex work before that, in 2020, and the following year, he dismissed 262 prostitution-related warrants dating back to 2012; Queens DA Melinda Katz quickly followed suit.

No wonder the “Market of Sweethearts,” a thriving illicit sex market along Roosevelt Avenue in Queens, has continued to plague the area.

Let’s be clear: Victims of sex trafficking deserve justice and supportive services. But even progressives like Krueger and Salazar will admit that “sex work” isn’t just about a paycheck but a worker’s dignity.

Where’s the dignity in selling one’s body? Especially when forced to by traffickers.

Proponents say they want to empower women, yet they ignore the exploitation and inherent dangers of the trade. Not to mention the abuse these women are forced to endure and the other crimes their “work” promotes.

Which is why normalizing another harmful deviancy, particularly without public hearings, is beyond the pale.

Officials are also pushing foolishly to accelerate casino licensing in the city — after botching the rollout of legal cannabis and driving up crime via reforms like Raise the Age and cashless bail.

Despite all of the neon lights and signage in Times Square, the Big Apple can never be the Las Vegas of the East — and it’ll only bring more decadence and misery if it tries. ##