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(L-R) Ruby Rae, Alice Little, Chuck Muth & Air Force Amy

With the retirement of long-time, highly-respected brothel lobbyist George Flint in 2015, the Nevada Brothel Association (NBA) – established to protect the legal brothel industry in the state – withered on the vine and died.

Filling the gap in legislative defense of the legal industry was Dennis Hof, owner of the world-famous Moonlite Bunny Ranch outside of Carson City, who had already been very active politically before the demise of the NBA.

For over two decades, Hof had been the leading spokesperson for the legal brothel industry in Nevada; devoting time, attention and money to promoting the virtues and social benefits of making “the world’s oldest profession” both lawful and acceptable.

“In early 2009,” reports Wikipedia, “due to the recession, State Senator Bob Coffin proposed legalizing prostitution statewide for tax purposes.

“Hof was prominently featured in a number of media reports saying he would expand into Las Vegas given the opportunity, and was already eying some closed casinos as property. However, the Nevada lawmakers refused to consider the proposal of statewide legal prostitution during that legislative session.”

Perhaps the industry’s greatest recent threat came in 2011, when then-U.S. Sen. Harry Reid led an effort outlaw prostitution statewide.

“Nevada needs to be known as the first place for innovation and investment – not as the last place where prostitution is still legal,” he said in a speech to the Nevada Legislature.  “If we want to attract business to Nevada that puts people back to work, the time has come for us to outlaw prostitution.”

To counter Sen. Reid’s shot across the bow, Hof showed up at the Legislature prior to Reid’s speech with eight legal sex workers and declared to the media, “Harry Reid will have to pry the cat house keys from my cold dead hands.”

Legislators and other elected officials were also cool to the idea, especially the notion that legal brothels were an impediment to economic development efforts to attract new businesses to the state.

“I have never been approached by any prospective business or had an inquiry as to that industry,” Lt. Governor Brian Krolicki, chairman of the state’s economic development commission, said in an interview with the Las Vegas Sun.  “I suspect it would present a challenge to certain individuals bringing in a company but it has never been a topic of conservation.”

Other officials – including Gov. Brian Sandoval, Senate Majority Leader Steven Horsford and Senate Minority Leader Mike McGinness – all took the position that legal brothels were a local issue that should be determined by the various counties in which they were allowed by state law.

Hof significantly increased his political activism in 2016 when he ran for the Nevada State Assembly seat in District 36, which encompassed Nye County – home to four legal brothels, two of which he owned – and some mostly rural parts of Clark and Lincoln counties.

Hof’s initial bid as a Libertarian Party candidate in 2016 came up short.  As expected, his opponent, then-Assemblyman James Oscarson, ran a brutal and dirty campaign, not only against Hof as a “pimp,” but the industry as a whole.

Shortly thereafter, Hof re-registered as a Republican and again sought the seat in 2018.  He won the GOP primary that June, then went on to win the seat outright in the November general election with an overwhelming 68 percent of the vote – despite his untimely death just three weeks before Election Day.

But Hof’s candidacy wasn’t the only brothel-related issue on the ballot.

Earlier in the year, two politically-motivated efforts to ban brothels via a ballot initiative – one in Nye County, where Hof owned two brothels, and the other in Lyon County, where Hof owned all four brothels – were launched.

Opponents were unable to gather enough signatures to put the issue on the 2018 general election ballot in Nye; however, the Lyon County Commission voted to place an “advisory question” on outlawing legal brothels on its ballot.

With Hof’s passing, two legal sex workers from the Bunny Ranch brothel – Alice Little and Ruby Rae – and Hof’s campaign manager, Chuck Muth, picked up the torch and waged a “Save Our Brothels” campaign in Lyon County.  And on Election Day, the anti-brothel initiative was crushed, 80 percent to 20 percent.

But the fight was clearly not over.

“Change starts when people of conscience and conviction take action,” tweeted Jason Guinasso, the Reno lawyer behind the anti-brothel initiatives and founder of a state PAC dedicated to shuttering them.

“Tuesday’s result was not the end, but rather part of a process that will lead to change,” Guinasso continued.  “We aren’t done yet.  We began an important conversation that will continue beyond this election cycle.”

And indeed, at the time of the election Nevada State Sen. Joe Hardy of Las Vegas had already introduced a “Bill Draft Request” seeking legislation in 2019, as Reid pushed for in 2011, to ban prostitution statewide.

Recognizing the threats weren’t going away, and that the industry’s most powerful and influential defender was no longer able to protect them, Little and Rae – along with Hof’s business general manager, Suzette Cole – resurrected the Nevada Brothel Association, with Muth serving as its registered agent, in November 2018.

The original founding members included all five Hof-owned properties – the Bunny Ranch, Kit Kat Ranch, Love Ranch North, Love Ranch South and Sagebrush Ranch.  The founders will invite other operators to join the association in the future.

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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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Carson City, NV  89721

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