Fred Cherry (15 April 1926 – 30 July 2003) was an American activist for greater rights for janes and johns (clients of prostitutes).
[2] Cherry first began seeing sex workers in 1956 and started his campaign against New York State's anti-prostitution laws in 1962.
After the publicity surrounding the protest, many members of the Mattachine Society (a gay rights organisation) joined the League for Sexual Freedom.
[2] In 1985, Cherry, and Margo St. James, filed a lawsuit against Ed Koch, then mayor of New York City, district attorney Elizabeth Holtzman and Police commissioner Benjamin Ward, seeking to overturn New York's laws banning prostitution on the grounds that Cherry's disability would make it impossible for him to find sexual companionship other than prostitutes, thereby violating the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
[4][5][6] Cherry provided funding for the incorporation of the International Sex Worker Foundation for Art, Culture and Education (ISWFACE) and its daily running costs.