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Archives for December 2019

December 19, 2019 By Chuck Muth

Early Christmas Present: Nye County Kills Government Lockdown Rule!

Nye County is one of a handful of rural counties in Nevada where legal brothels are authorized to operate.  And for the past couple of years the Nye County Commission has been working to update its brothel ordinance to clean up some language and modernize the code.

The original update proposal announced in October included a new “lockdown” provision that would only allow a courtesan to leave the brothel for six hours every ten days.

In response to significant opposition voiced by many of the women in the industry, that proposal was killed before the language for the new ordinance was even officially introduced – a big win for the good guys.

Unfortunately, the proposed changes kept intact the existing “24-hour lockdown” rule that’s been in place for years…

“Every prostitute who is off the brothel premises in excess of twenty-four (24) hours shall be subject to all the medical testing requirements set forth in this chapter and any other applicable State laws and regulations.”

The proposed 6-hour lockdown rule was bad, but the existing 24-hour rule wasn’t any better. So we set our sights on repealing this provision entirely, as well.

On Monday, Commission Chairman John Koenig reached out and requested arguments in favor of repeal – particularly in response to concerns raised regarding public health.

I wrote and sent those arguments to Chairman Koenig and members of the Commission later that afternoon.  You can read that document here.

The report included references related to this issue from two books authored by a pair of professors, Barbara Brents of UNLV (State of Sex: Tourism, Sex and Sin in the New American Heartland) and Sara Blithe of UNR (Sex and Stigma: Stories of Everyday Life in Nevada’s Legal Brothels), who have studied the industry extensively.

If this is a topic of interest to you, I can’t recommend highly enough reading both books.  Thoroughly enlightening and absolutely terrific.

In addition, Christina Parreira, a former Nye County courtesan who is doing her doctoral thesis on the brothel industry at UNLV, submitted a statement urging repeal of the 24-hour lockdown rule.  You can read her statement here.

The Commission hearing and vote on the proposed code change was held in Pahrump on Tuesday.

In addition to the documents submitted, I have to give a huge shout-out to Kourtney Chase, a courtesan at the Chicken Ranch Brothel, who attended the meeting and testified.  She was a bit nervous (who wouldn’t be under the circumstances?) but did great.

Kourtney had already written a pair of absolutely wonderful columns in opposition to the proposed 6-hour lockdown rule back in October.  If you missed them, they’re well worth reading.  Click here and here.

Kourtney’s willingness to share her life story and explain how these lockdown rules hurt and stigmatize the women who work in Nevada’s legal brothels put a human face on this issue.  I can’t begin to tell you how important and persuasive “putting herself out there” was to this effort.

After Kourtney and I and a couple others finished testifying and making our case, Chairman Koenig announced a number of final changes he was proposing for the ordinance update – including completely striking the 24-hour lockdown rule.

Other commissioners recommended a few other, non-related changes, and then it was time for the vote.

In the end, the new ordinance was approved – WITH THE LOCKDOWN RULE REMOVED! – by a unanimous vote of 5-0!

Thank you to everyone who got involved and reached out to the Nye County Commission over the 6-hour rule back in October and showed up for the hearings.

Thank you to Professors Brents and Blithe whose studies of this industry proved invaluable in making our case.

Thank you to Christina, who was instrumental in opposing both lockdown rules in October and this week.

THANK YOU to Kourtney!

And especially thank you to Mr. Koenig.

The Chairman handled this entire matter professionally, cooperatively and respectfully.  And he did something far too few of our elected officials do when it comes to this industry…

He listened to the sex workers themselves.

If you’d like to extend your appreciation to the Chairman, please shoot an email to: jkoenig@co.nye.nv.us.  This wouldn’t have happened without his leadership.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Mr. Muth is president of Citizen Outreach, a limited-government grassroots advocacy organization, and government affairs counsel to the Nevada Brothel Association.  His views are his own.

Filed Under: Blog

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Suzette Cole, CEO, Moonlite Bunny Ranch

“Prostitution is the oldest profession and will not go away.  Nevada has been doing it right since 1971 when we took it out of the criminal’s hands and put it into a highly-regulated industry.  As an added benefit, there has never been a case of HIV/AIDS in the history of legal brothels here…and you can’t say that about any other profession in the United States.”

John Stossel, Syndicated Columnist

“We don’t have to cheer for prostitution, or think it’s nice, to keep government out of it and let participants make up their own minds.  It’s wrong to ban sex workers’ options just to make ourselves feel better.”

Steve Chapman, Syndicated Columnist

“Prohibition doesn’t eliminate the harms generally associated with prostitution, such as violence, human trafficking and disease. On the contrary, it fosters them by driving the business underground.”

Christina Parreira, UNLV Researcher/Sex Worker

“Sex work is my CHOICE.  I’d like to continue to have the opportunity to make that choice legally.  We don’t need protection. We’re consenting, adult women.”

Washington, DC Councilman David Grosso

“We need to stop arresting people for things that are not really criminal acts. We should arrest someone for assault…but when it’s two adults engaging in a consensual sex act, I don’t see why that should be an arrestable offense”

New York Assemblyman Richard Gottfried

“Trying to stop sex work between consenting adults should not be the business of the criminal justice system.”

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker

“Yes, sex work should be decriminalized.  As a general matter, I don’t believe that we should be criminalizing activity between consenting adults, and especially when doing so causes even more harm for those involved.”

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders

“I think the idea of legalizing prostitution is something that should be considered…(and) certainly needs to be discussed.”

U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris

“When you’re talking about consenting adults, I think that, yes, we should really consider that we can’t criminalize consensual behavior, as long as no one is being harmed. … We should not be criminalizing women who are engaged in consensual opportunities for employment.”

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren

“I believe humans should have autonomy over their own bodies and they get to make their own decisions. … I am open to decriminalizing sex work. Sex workers, like all workers, deserve autonomy and are particularly vulnerable to physical and financial abuse.”

U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard

“If a consenting adult wants to engage in sex work, that is their right, and it should not be a crime. All people should have autonomy over their bodies and their labor.”

Gov. John Hickenlooper

“Legalizing prostitution and regulating it, so there are norms and protections and we understand more clearly how people are being treated and make sure we prevent abuse, I think it should be really looked at.”

Mike Gravel, former Alaska Senator

“Sex workers are workers, and they deserve the dignity and respect that every worker deserves. For too long, we’ve denied them that. Sex workers, not politicians, should lead the way in crafting sex work policy.”

Prof. Ronald Weitzer, George Washington University:

“Unlike illegal street prostitution in many other places, Nevada’s legal brothels do not disturb public order, create nuisances, or negatively impact local communities in other ways. Instead, they provide needed tax revenue for cash-strapped rural towns.”

Prof. Barbara Brents, UNLV author, “State of Sex”:

“Teams of scholars…have concluded that Nevada’s legal brothels provide a far safer environment for sex workers than the criminalized system in the rest of the United States.”

Prof. Sarah Blithe, UNR author, “Sex and Stigma”:

“Discussions of legal prostitution are rife with misinformation.  Academic work and popular press publications alike often conflate legal prostitution in the United States with illegal prostitution.”

Lee Herz Dixon:

“Do I think eradicating legal prostitution from all Nevada counties will erase the practice of the oldest profession in the state, or break the nexus of drugs, crime, and exploitation of the vulnerable? I do not.”

Journalist Michael Cernovich:

“It’s empirically proven that criminalizing sex work allows children to be sex trafficked more readily as they are afraid to turn to authorities and wonder if they will be arrested.”

Enrique Carmona:

“We need to put aside moralistic prejudices, whether based on religion or an idealistic form of feminism, and figure out what is in the best interests of the sex workers and public interest as well.”

Ruby Rae, professional courtesan

“In the brothels, we have the choice, always, to say which clients we will say yes and no to. We have staff that would never let a man hurt us, and we have a clientele that do not come here to hurt us.”

Kiki Lover, professional courtesan:

“We are human beings who chose to do sex work on our own free will. We get treated with respect and like family at the brothels. It’s a job just like any other job. We sell a service that all humans need.”

Paris Envy, professional courtesan:

“I’m not ‘exploited.’ I’m not ‘trafficked.’ I’m not ‘brainwashed.’ I don’t need to be ‘saved.’ I’ve freely chosen this line of work, which is a legal, private transaction between consenting adults.”

Alice Little, professional courtesan:

“It’s ILLEGAL sex work that exploits children. It’s ILLEGAL sex work that traffics. It’s ILLEGAL sex work that sees women exploited and abused by pimps.”

Jim Shedd, Nevadan

“Prostitution should be licensed, regulated, taxed like any other service industry.  There are many single or widowed men and women who should be able to take advantage of such services provided by consenting adults for consenting adults. Let’s act to at least reduce illegal sex trafficking and other sex crimes by creating safe and legal outlets for paying adults who wish to use them.”

Paul Bourassa, brothel customer:

“Some people are just never given a chance in the dating scene, so brothels offer those of us with no experience a chance to learn what it’s like to be on a date.”

Lewis Dawkins, brothel customer:

“It’s not always about sex. Little compliments and encouragements offered by the ladies help build my self-confidence. It’s a business, yes. But the ladies care personally about their clients. That means a lot.”

Brett Caton, brothel customer:

“I think brothels provide an important function in society. Legal ones give a safe outlet to their customers and for some men it is the only way they get so much as a hug.”

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The Nevada Brothel Association PAC is a coalition of legal brothel owners, brothel workers, brothel clients and brothel supporters dedicated to defending a woman’s right to choose professional sex work as a career, protecting the public’s health and safety, and preserving Nevada’s rich live-and-let-live heritage.

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