NBA Staff

Sex Workers Call Foul Given Her Track Record; Demand Apology And Reparations As Evidence Of Good Faith

(Maxine Doogan | ESPLER Project)  – A sex work activist group, the Erotic Service Providers Legal Education And Research Project (ESPLERP), is not impressed today to hear presidential candidate Kamala Harris in an interview with The Root (http://tinyurl.com/yy2kgo5t) say that she is now open to the decriminalization of sex work-for some.

“Given her history, we need to know what Kamala Harris really believes,” said Maxine Doogan of ESPLERP. “At one point in the interview she sounds like an old school anti-prostitutist from the 80s – using epithets like “pimps” and “johns”. Then she says she is open to decriminalization of sex work. She needs to clarify her position – starting with an unequivocal statement that she supports the decriminalization of sex work for all consenting adults.”

Harris has a decidedly mixed history on sex work…

• In 2007, when running for reelection San Francisco District Attorney, Harris sought the endorsement of the Harvey Milk Democratic Club, and described herself in a public meeting as “an honorary sex worker”.
• In 2008, Harris campaigned against Prop K, a city wide ballot measure to stop the criminalization of prostitution. This was despite the San Francisco Democratic County Central Committee official position was in favor. During that campaign she made ludicrous claims that decriminalizing prostitution would open San Francisco to serious crimes like rape, robbery, extortion, kidnapping and murder (http://tinyurl.com/y5vw9oxs).
• As San Francisco District Attorney Harris was found in violation of San Francisco’s open government law.  The  Sunshine Ordinance Task Force found that she had not responded to defense attorney requests for disclosure, for example about police disciplinary records, in cases prosecuted by her office against sex workers.
• As California Attorney General, Harris used the power of her office to go after Backpage – an online advertising platform where sex workers could advertise and negotiate without police harassment. When her first lawsuit against Backpage was dismissed, she filed again, making her attack on Backpage part of her US Senate campaign.
• Also while California Attorney General, Harris declined to investigate Bay Area police departments, despite their long history of exploiting and extorting sex workers, and despite the ongoing scandal of police interactions with an Oakland underage sex worker.
• In the Senate, Harris voted for the FOSTA bill which shut down online platforms used by sex workers for advertising, support and sustenance, in effect stripping sex workers of our online speech rights.

“Kamala Harris will say anything popular to get an endorsement or get elected,” said Claire Alwyne of ESPLERP. “She is good with empty words about protecting women, but her actions have consistently harmed sex workers – mostly poor women, women of color, and trans women. For example, her attacks on Backpage and her vote to pass #FOSTA  forced sex workers back onto the streets, where they are vulnerable to violence and extortion. So if Harris is really sincere about decriminalization, she should start with a detailed policy position making it clear that she supports the full decriminalization of sex work for all consenting adults – and rejects the Nordic Model criminalization of our clients which has been discredited by Amnesty International (http://tinyurl.com/kvafj88).”

“Kamala Harris should apologize – and then start talking about reparations for sex workers,” said Reada Wong of ESPLERP. “Is she going to work to repeal FOSTA? How does she propose to compensate the sex workers her actions have harmed, who were pushed into poverty, who lost their housing or child custody? How does she propose to expunge the criminal records of the sex workers prosecuted on her watch?  Will she be returning campaign contributions she’s received from anti-prostitution groups? And will she find funding for pro sex work groups like ESPLERP, so we can start dismantling decades of stigma and discrimination in State and Federal legislatures that politicians like her have furthered their careers on?  Harris should put her money where her mouth is.”

The Erotic Service Providers Legal, Education and Research Project (ESPLERP) is a diverse community-based coalition advancing sexual privacy rights through litigation, education, and research. Support us at www.litigatetoemancipate.com.

(Ryan Tarinelli | Associated Press) – Nevada’s legal brothels are holdovers from the state’s Wild West past that draw customers and the curious to the rural areas where they are scattered.

Republican state Sen. Joe Hardy says brothels have no place in the state and attract women with few economic options who get stuck in an abusive industry.

“It’s not an easy exit for someone,” he said. “So I’d like to give them hope, that not only can they get out, but they can get an opportunity to get retrained.”

Hardy plans legislation that would ban brothels in the only state where they are legal — though even he acknowledges the bill might lack support among colleagues who see the brothels as an economic boon for rural counties.

Sex workers and other backers of the brothels say they’re ready to fight the measure. They argue a ban would hurt struggling rural economies and drive women working in the world’s oldest profession out of a regulated environment that requires regular STD tests and into dangerous street prostitution.

“It’s either going to happen in the streets and in Vegas and in the hotels, or it’s going to happen in a safe, legal atmosphere where women such as myself can feel safe and protected,” said Christina Parreira, a sex worker who formerly worked in multiple brothels.

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(Madam Bella Cummins) – Yet again, I am reminded of Jason Guinasso’s misunderstanding of this subject matter. I understand his wanting to lash out and fix something that he thinks is wrong. However, it’s confused.

Once again, with loaded verbiage, he fails to understand the difference between the nature of legal courtesanship in Nevada and illegal prostitution. It proves again that there is a real need for education, to erase these stereotypes and misunderstandings and to guide our thinking about a new direction.

That is what the Onesta Foundation is about and that forms the basis of our advocacy for enlightened approaches to well-regulated sensual services. In the rural counties of Nevada, we have proved that it works, that it improves public health and safety and empowers communities.

The Onesta Foundation stands with the Governor, The Nevada Legislature and the State of Nevada in this case, but most stolidly with the workers, the courtesans, who are being marginalized and stigmatized by the ignorance of misplaced judgement.

The plaintiff in this case tells of her experience of being forced into prostitution, a crime by any standard, in the state of Texas, and of being brought to Nevada to work illegally in Las Vegas, also a crime with heavy penalties. Then she tells of being forced, by her pimp, to seek work in a licensed brothel as a punishment for some undisclosed infraction. This is a very telling statement, entirely misinterpreted by the Guinasso team.

I liken it to someone who gets behind the wheel of a car having had too much to drink. Their decisions are impaired and there are consequences in their misdirected actions. In this case, the strong drink is judgement.

What is obviously needing to be addressed here are the illegal activities in areas where brothels are prohibited. I think about these ladies, who are out working one convention to the next. There is no reason to believe that their clients and those ladies are safe. They are unregulated, beyond the reach of public safety, and therein lies the problem.

In Jason Guinasso’s fervor, he has brought to everyone’s attention that change is required, so I thank him for that. I still want to help him to understand that his efforts are misdirected. Having been shown the door by the people of Lyon County in the last election, his twisting of the relationship between local, state and federal governments smells of desperation perfume. He’s got it backwards.

There is another way to look at all of this, through the lens of the Onesta tradition of fairness, honesty and virtue in all human relations. People get to make their own choices, absolutely. These women, who work in sensual services in the safe places designed by the state, deserve empowerment in our culture without judgment and without repercussions, should they make that choice.

The powerful, independent and entrepreneurial women who provide fun, safe and healthy sensual services look askance at those who claim to be saving them from something or saving them from themselves. It makes them angry and fires them up when they get the feeling their freedom of choice is being disrespected and taken away from them. They are their own personal power.

As Executive Director of the Onesta Foundation, a Nevada 501c3 non-profit entity, I urge the courts to reject this suit on the grounds that state’s rights should prevail and that this suit is frivolous.

(John Hawkins | PJ Media) – You’ve heard about Robert Kraft, right? The 77-year-old widowed billionaire who owns the New England Patriots and has apparently been accused (all the details aren’t out) of going to a massage parlor to get a happy ending.

Now, I haven’t watched a football game in years and I don’t care about Robert Kraft or the Patriots at all. Furthermore, I’ve always been opposed to prostitution, but it’s still hard to condemn the guy, because prostitution has become a run-of-the-mill act in America. We just use legalisms and play the definition game (what I do is good and fine, while what you do is bad and over the line) to condemn people doing something no morally different than what we’re doing.

Obviously, prostitution is legal in parts of Nevada. If you drive across the state, you’ll see it advertised incessantly and you’ll even pass grimy-looking, garishly advertised brothels. In fact, the owner of many of the brothels in Nevada, self-described pimp Dennis Hof, ran for the state legislature there and won, even after his untimely death.

But, let’s go a little further down the rabbit hole. What is prostitution, really, other than a man paying a woman for sexual gratification?

Remember Donald Sterling losing the Los Angeles Clippers over racist comments recorded by his “girlfriend,” V. Stiviano? What struck me about it was that Donald Sterling bought her a Ferrari, a Range Rover, and two Bentleys to go along with a $1.8 million duplex. We may not think of that as prostitution, but she was a 30-year-old woman servicing an 80-year-old married man and she wasn’t doing it for free.

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(February 25, 2019) –This morning, Mustang Ranch announced that it will be filing to intervene in the federal lawsuit filed by anti-brothel proponent Jason Guinasso. Guinasso’s lawsuit, which has been filed against the State of Nevada, aims to criminalize prostitution throughout the state.

“Guinasso’s actions will put thousands of women back into the hands of pimps working illegally,” said Lance Gilman, real estate developer and owner of Mustang Ranch.  “Every single worker at the Mustang Ranch is required to undergo an FBI fingerprint and criminal database background check every single year.  The female entrepreneurs in the industry pay their taxes, support their family, buy their first homes, and pay their way through college or other educational courses.  In over 4,000 work card applications filed over the last 20 years by working professionals and employees at the Mustang, not one has turned up to be a victim of trafficking.  Not one,” said Gilman.  “Yet, Guinasso is going after these people, and completely ignoring the current problem.”

“This will also hurt rural counties in Nevada by immediately removing tax and fee revenues out of their budgets,” continued Gilman.  “At the Mustang, we fund over $100,000 year in charitable contributions locally, most to local seniors and we also sponsor a backpack food program for children from families in need in our County.”

“This is a desperate act by Guinasso,” said Gilman.   “He knows this exact claim has been litigated before in this state and Nevada laws allowing licensed brothels have been repeatedly upheld.  He lost badly in the court of public opinion in the recent election.  His referendum lost by an 80% – 20% margin in Lyon County, even with the local Sheriff financing his anti-brothel effort.  And he couldn’t even get a vote in Nye County.  Every single poll taken in the state by reputable polling firms, including polling within the last 8 months, confirms widespread support for brothels and regulated prostitution.  He’s trying to do an end run on the people of Nevada,” said Gilman.

“Unfortunately, it’s just another political stunt by this man.   That’s why he sent out his complaint to the media before it was even filed.  This is all about him marketing and branding his position within his narrow political faction.  As far as I know, Guinasso hasn’t done one act to actually help the ladies working on the illegal side escape their pimps or ever taken action to stop handbilling of illegal prostitutes by pimps on the Las Vegas strip, prostitutes on the streets of Reno, and illegal sexual services in the massage parlors in the big cities in Nevada,” said Gilman.

“His entire complaint is about illegal prostitution and trafficking, which has no relationship to licensed brothels in Nevada.”

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(February 25, 2019) – Chuck Muth, spokesman for the Nevada Brothel Association, released the following statement in response to the federal lawsuit filed today by Reno attorney Jason Guinasso seeking to overturn Nevada’s legal brothel laws…

“Having lost overwhelmingly at the ballot box in his crusade to ban legal brothels last November, Mr. Guinasso is now running to the federal government, hoping the court will trample on state’s rights and Nevada’s unique live-and-let-live heritage.

“His client, an ex-con for tax evasion, claims she was ‘trafficked’ in Nevada’s legal brothels without providing any proof whatsoever, including specific dates when she allegedly worked here or what alias she worked under. 

“Her story has a very Jussie Smollet hoax-like scent to it.  I hope the media heeds all the red flags and actually digs into her allegations rather than simply accepting them at face value.”