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(Chuck Muth) – Remember the 1982 movie “Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan”?

Khan Noonien Singh was the evil bad guy who sent a pair of assassins to knock off his longtime nemesis, Captain Kirk.  Alas, the hitmen failed – which Khan realized when Kirk, instead of one of his assassins, responded to Khan’s radio call.

“Kirk,” Khan says with surprise, “you’re still alive, my old friend.”

“Still, old, friend,” Kirk replies.  “You’ve managed to kill just about everyone else, but, like a poor marksman, you keep missing the target.”

Anti-sex trafficking advocates who continue to attack Nevada’s legal brothel industry should keep that scene in mind.  Because they, too, keep missing the target.

To remind them of what the real target SHOULD be, consider this December 30, 2018 story in the Albion Times…

“Two Long Island men, including a ‘self-described Crips gang member,’ were arrested for the kidnapping and sex trafficking of two girls – one of whom was only 12 years old, police said Thursday.

“Fredjy Exavier and Terron Newsome, both 22 and from Central Islip, were arrested Wednesday morning on a slew of charges that stemmed from the sex trafficking of the 12-year-old and a second victim, who was raped at the age of 13 and prostituted, Suffolk County police said.”

According to the police report, the thugs took the girls from the group home where they were living and drove them to a motel “where Newsome attempted to have the 12-year-old girl engage in sexual activities with him and encouraged her to become a prostitute.”

THAT’S sex trafficking of underage girls – and these two should be drawn and quartered for it.

The girls were rescued from the motel and the dirtbags arrested after one of the girls managed to call her former foster parent, who then called police to report they were being held “against their will.”

“I know she’s young,” Exavier told police. “She looked like 15 or 16, but not 12 years old.”

As if 15 or 16 makes it any better!

Sadly, this isn’t an isolated case in New York.  It’s going on every day all over the country, including in Nevada.

But you know where it’s NOT happening?

In Nevada’s legal brothels.

In order to work in a legal Nevada brothel, the women are REQUIRED to obtain a sheriff’s work card, which they can only receive after an extensive FBI background check to verify their age and identify any criminal history.

As such, there is no trafficking of underage girls going on in Nevada’s legal brothels.  None.

So if the objective is to eradicate the sex-trafficking of underage girls, as it should be, activists targeting Nevada’s legal brothels keep missing the target.

In Nevada’s legal brothels, you have consenting adult customers doing business with consenting adult service providers.  The businesses and all of their workers are licensed, regulated and taxed.

They are NOT the problem.

Those claiming otherwise who are trying to shut down Nevada’s legal brothels are bad marksmen.  They need to re-direct their fire.

Mr. Muth is president of Citizen Outreach Foundation and a consulting adviser to the Nevada Brothel Association

(Christina Parreira) – In a recent column published by the Vancouver Sun, Paul Paterson and Andrew Davidson take feminists who “leave no room for compromise” on the issue of legalizing sex work to the proverbial woodshed.

In particular, the columnists criticize “just how cynical, divisive and meanspirited radical feminism has become,” singling out Meghan Murphy, editor of the Feminist Current blog which boasts of providing a “unique perspective on male violence against women.”

The authors note that Ms. Murphy views prostitution – both legal and illegal – as “patriarchal oppression” in which women, even those willingly engaged in the practice, are exploited to “suit men’s fantasies.”

But Paterson and Davidson maintain she and her followers are barking up the wrong tree…

“If what radical feminists claim is true about prostitution – that it is inherently abusive, oppressive and exploitive – the abolitionist cause surely would garner widespread support.  But times have changed, and it’s the anti-prostitution activists who now find themselves swimming against the current.”

The authors note the Ms. Murphy herself “acknowledges two major shifts in attitudes toward sex work” that indicate she and her anti-prostitution activists are on the wrong side of history…

“First, third-wave feminists have played a ‘foundational role in advocating for the legalization of prostitution.’  Second, the left in North America has ‘almost wholly taken a pro-prostitution stance.’ 

As such, they are increasingly finding themselves the odd (wo)man…

“One of radical feminism’s ultimate goals – criminalizing the demand side of sexual services – remains frustrated by the fact that progressives have joined forces in support of decriminalization.  Rational individuals would view this as an opportunity to question their own self-evident positions.  Alas, Murphy is not among them.”

In addition, progressives on the left were joined this year in a major and public way by live-and-let-live libertarians on the right in support of decriminalization.

At their 2018 national convention in New Orleans, the Libertarian Party adopted a platform that, as Reason Magazine put it, takes a stand “unequivocally for sex-worker rights and in opposition to cops caging people for consensual sex.”

“We assert the right of consenting adults to provide sexual services to clients for compensation,” reads the ground-breaking platform statement, “and the right of clients to purchase sexual services from consenting sex workers.”

Unfortunately, as Paterson and Davidson point out, Ms. Murphy and her adherents consider “those who advocate to legalize prostitution” as traitors to the empowerment-of-women cause…

“When it comes to sex work, radical feminists leave no room for political compromise.  Instead, they adopt a brand of principled moralism that is dictatorial, punitive and judgmental.  Prostitution is viewed through the singular lens: male violence against women.  Women are victims; men are victimizers.  Case closed.”

But the case is decidedly not closed.

As a former legal sex worker in Nevada’s legal brothels, I can assure you I was never a “victim” and my clients were never “victimizers.”  We were consenting adults.  A willing buyer and a willing seller.  It was MY choice.  And it was their choice.

It’s bad enough that many social conservatives continue to stigmatize consenting sex work between adults on moralistic and religious grounds and falsely claim “victimization” and “oppression” of women.

Self-proclaimed feminists such as Ms. Murphy should know better.

Real women – strong, independent women – are perfectly capable of making such decisions ourselves.  To deny that is to perpetuate the myth that women are helpless and incapable of making our own life choices.

That’s about as anti-feminist as you can get.

Christina Parreira, M.A., is a PhD student in the Department of Sociology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. In addition to being an instructor and researcher, she is a proud legal courtesan and an Ambassador for the Nevada Brothel Association.

(Lois Choate) – Dennis Hof (late owner of the Moonlite Bunny Ranch brothel and others) educated me on legal brothels and the service they perform – which is to help eliminate sex trafficking, etc.

I was brought up in a Southern Baptist home.  Which is not a bad thing, but I was definitely sheltered as well as well as taught bad girls did bad things and not to be a bad girl.

Over the years my views changed and I grew up to know that there are bad people who do bad things – and sex trafficking is one.

I met Dennis at the Nye County fair last year. He came over and introduced himself to me and the conversation began!

I came away with a whole new view of the brothels, and had a peace of mind that although it was not a career for me or those close to me, I could accept it in its reality.

After all it has been here since the beginning of time – and Jesus himself forgave the lady at the well.

I always remembered that scripture when events with people I cared about were involved in things that were hard for me to understand.  Education is not just reading, writing and arithmetic.  It is about understanding and accepting people who have different views and ways of life.

We supported Dennis. He was one of the kindest men I have met in my lifetime and I hope people will get educated on the truth about his kindness and true caring for the people of Nevada.

Lies have to be dealt with and we can do it together!

Ms. Choate lives in Las Vegas, Nevada

(Suzette Cole) – God bless Kevin Malone.

Mr. Malone, former general manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, is now competing against a new and far more dangerous opponent right here in Nevada: The illegal sex trafficking market.

As co-founder and president of the U.S. Institute Against Human Trafficking, Mr. Malone is fighting to “save the lives of children caught in this dark and barbaric industry.”  A noble cause.  And one every person with an ounce of decency should embrace.  However…

No serious discussion of this issue and how to combat the practice can take place without adding to the mix the one proven solution that certain parts of Nevada have embraced for almost 50 years now:  Legalizing, taxing and regulating prostitution among consenting adults.

In a recent op-ed published by the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Mr. Malone writes that “Las Vegas is a hub for sex trafficking, including among minors.”  And he cites an Arizona State University study that found that “one in five underage victims was brought to Las Vegas specifically for the purpose of sex trafficking.”

Pure evil.  But in order to have a serious, rational debate on how to end illegal sex trafficking in America, two distinctions must be clearly made.

One, that there’s a BIG difference between adults forced into prostitution and adults who freely and willingly engage in such sex-for-fee work.  And two, that minors – unlike adults – are not able to give legal consent.

“When a man pays for sex,” Mr. Malone wrote, “he has no idea whether that ‘willing 21-year-old’ he is buying is really 14 – or whether she’s in the room because she’s being forced by someone else.”

In the illegal sex trade, this is absolutely true.

However, it’s absolutely NOT true in Nevada’s legal brothels, where every sex worker must be an adult who is issued a sheriff’s work permit after being fingerprinted and subjected to age verification and an FBI background check.

As such there are NO underage prostitutes working in Nevada’s legal brothels.

So, if your concern is truly to eliminate underage sex trafficking, then Nevada’s legal brothel system is the most effective, PROVEN weapon. The problem: Legal brothels are prohibited in Las Vegas which, as Mr. Malone notes, is ground zero for the illegal sex industry.

Back in the “old days” the government prohibited the sale and consumption of alcohol.  But people still wanted their adult beverages and found so many ways around Prohibition that Prohibition was eventually repealed.

Now the sale of alcohol is legal, taxed and regulated nationwide.

Similarly, at one time gambling was considered a societal no-no.  But people were bound and determined to gamble no matter what government nannies said.  Eventually Nevada legalized, taxed and licensed the activity – and is now considered the “gold standard” for regulating the industry nationwide.

Ditto marijuana, now legalized, taxed and licensed in Nevada.

Oh, and gay marriage – another activity between consenting adults the government has no business prohibiting.  The U.S. Supreme Court has said so.  Thus, gay marriages are now legal, taxed and licensed nationwide.

The next obvious frontier: Legalizing, taxing and regulating prostitution.

Like it or not, that’s the single best way to get rid of illegal street pimps who traffic underaged girls – just as legalizing marijuana has put so many illegal pot dealers out of business.  And the revenue generated by taxing legal sex-for-fee work could be earmarked for programs to continue battling the illegal sex market.

We should all be grateful that Mr. Malone and others have dedicated so much time and effort to saving child victims from this scourge.  But to ignore or oppose the one proven weapon in the war, legalization of fee-for-sex among consenting adults, is short-sighted.

It’s time to put EVERY option on the table in the fight against the “dark and barbaric” illegal sex trafficking industry.  And it’s time to stop conflating illegal sex trafficking, especially of minors, with what happens in Nevada’s legal, licensed and regulated brothels.

Do that, Mr. Malone, and you’ll find some powerful new allies in your commendable cause.  Soldier on.  And let us know how we can help.

Ms. Cole is CEO of four legal brothels in Lyon County, Nevada and president of the Nevada Brothel Association. For more information, please visit www.NevadaBrothelAssociation.com

“Live and Let Live” is the heart and soul of Nevada’s historical heritage of maximum individual freedom and strictly limited government.

And it is perfectly consistent with the American constitutional philosophy that one man’s (or woman’s) rights end where another’s begins.

In other words, even if someone chooses to do something you don’t like personally, as long as it doesn’t infringe on your rights and your life then…fine.

Live and Let Live.

It means you don’t want other people making choices for you about how you live your life. And in return, you won’t make choices about how others live their lives – even if you don’t agree with them.

Live and Let Live.

It’s what Nevada has always been about.

• If you don’t like gambling, don’t go to a casino. But don’t stop others from going.
• If you don’t like drinking, don’t go to a bar. But don’t stop others from doing so.
• If you don’t like smoking, don’t smoke. But don’t stop others from doing so.
• And if you don’t like prostitution, don’t go to a brothel. But don’t stop others from doing so.

Live and Let Live.

Unfortunately, a small group of religious zealots and transplants from other states – especially the “nanny state” of California – have decided they know what’s best for everyone else when it comes to prostitution.

And they want to close down our LEGAL brothels and put illegal prostitution back on our streets – just like in Las Vegas.

• Which will dry up all the tax revenue our local community receives from the brothel industry and result in a TAX HIKE on you.
• Which will create new costs to taxpayers to create a new “vice squad” and other law enforcement duties in a futile effort to ban “the world’s oldest profession”
• Which means the women who work in our regulated brothels will no longer be safe from violent men who wish to do them harm
• Which means hundreds of brothel workers – including support staff other than the “working girls” – will find themselves out of a job
• Which will mean untested sex workers will be spreading sexually transmitted diseases throughout our county

To combat this moral crusade, the Nevada Brothel Association was formed.

You don’t have to be a supporter of prostitution or brothels to join the fight.

You just have to support the idea that consenting adults should be allowed to make decisions for themselves – even if you consider them bad decisions – as long as they don’t interfere with your own life and your own rights.

Live and Let Live.

It’s the Nevada Way.

Please join us!

(Chuck Muth) – If you believe the headlines, you might jump to the conclusion that Lyon County’s legal brothels are Ground Zero for an international sex trafficking ring…

• “Trafficking signs seen in brothels”
• “Audit of Hof’s 4 legal sites finds lack of enforcement”
• “A third of prostitutes registered in 2017 had red flags of possible human trafficking”
• “Audit finds signs of human trafficking at brothels in Nevada county”
• “Lyon County finds possible signs of trafficking at brothels”
• “Lyon Co. Sheriff’s Audit Found Issues in Vetting of Legal Prostitutes”
• “Lyon County increasing enforcement at brothels”

And you’d be wrong.

Not your fault.  Misleading, hysteria-inducing click-bait headlines are how they sell papers.  It’s one of the reasons why the term “fake news” has become so popular.  So let’s look deeper into the story and beyond the headlines…

First notice the use of “weasel words” so often deployed by politicians. (For example: “I don’t *INTEND* to raise taxes”)

Weasel words allow news publications to defend their misleading stories and headlines as technically accurate.  There were “signs” of trafficking.  There were “red flags.”  Trafficking might be “possible.”

The truth is, NO SEX TRAFFICKING in any of Lyon County’s four legal brothels was discovered during the reported audit.  Not one arrest.  Not one citation.  Not one fine.

In addition, this wasn’t an “Audit of Hof’s 4 legal sites.”

This was an audit of the processes and procedures at the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) – NOT the brothels – to make sure the LCSO itself was doing adequate screening of brothel applicants before issuing them a work card.

And that’s a critical point overlooked in the headlines: The brothels don’t issue work cards!  The sheriff’s office does.

No one is allowed to work in one of Lyon County’s legal brothels unless and until the sheriff’s office, not the brothels, clear them after conducting FBI and other background checks.

Indeed, as Sheriff Al McNeil noted at the town hall forum on Lyon County Question 1 last week, the sheriff’s office has been issuing work cards for brothel workers since 1990 and…

“The sheriff’s office has not done a good job in vetting the applicants coming through the brothel system.  We own it. … The problem lies in the vetting that we should have been doing for the past 28 years that we haven’t been doing. … When we looked at this internal audit we saw the problems that were associated; that we weren’t doing a good job.”

Again, this entire four-month investigation was of the SHERIFF’S OFFICE, not the brothels.  The spot-check of “Hof’s 4 legal sites” – as accurately reported only by the Nevada Independent – was solely an “educational visit” with federal ICE agents in an effort to help LCSO tighten up its screening procedures.

The results of the internal audit were recently submitted to the Lyon County Commission.  And that report, too, has been largely misrepresented by news outlets and cherry-picked by opponents.  So let’s take a look at some key points…

1.)  Under “Findings,” the LCSO noted that “a recent brothel statement” indicated that “134 non-sex worker support staff” worked in the brothels but LCSO “can only document 79.”

Sounds like violations, right?  Wrong.

The fact is there are a number of employees – including IT personnel, marketers and restaurant workers at the NV 50 grill – who are not tied directly to the brothels and aren’t required to obtain brothel work cards.

Funny how that little fact, which was included in the sheriff’s report, somehow never made it into news stories.  Nor – again printed right in the “Findings” for anyone to see – this statement: “There are no significant public safety concerns with these employees as it relates to criminal cases.”

Go figure.

2.)  In the review of work cards for sex workers themselves, the LCSO report found…

• 22 applicants who “self-disclosed being foreign-born and/or non-citizens”
• 13 who “made self-disclosure of active criminal cases”
• 19 who “self-disclosed prior prostitution convictions”
• 4 who “self-disclosed active prostitution arrest without case closure”
• 1 who “self-disclosed immigration deportation proceedings”

Do you see the common thread here?  “Self-disclosed.”

No one was caught trying to “hide something” on their application.  And none of the self-disclosures were cause to deny the applicants a work card – which, again, was issued by LCSO, not the brothels.

In addition, none of this information was provided to the brothels.  It’s all on the LCSO work card applications.

And yet, all of these self-disclosures were listed in the report as “Human Trafficking Indicators.”

“Indicators.” Like how the sniffles might be an “indicator” that you’re about to get the flu.  Or not.

“Indicators” don’t mean the applicant is or was involved in human trafficking.  Just that maybe a little deeper investigation into the applicant’s background by LCSO is called for.

Again, these were only “indicators” of POSSIBLE human sex trafficking; no actual human sex trafficking was found.

3.)  As for including self-disclosed prior and open prostitution arrests, the LCSO report states these are “indicators” that the individuals “could still be controlled by a pimp.”

“Could.”  Not “are.”

Here’s another possibility…

Maybe these sex workers – who have been working in the ILLEGAL sex market and were arrested for it – decided it was better for them to work in LEGAL brothels than on the street.

In fact, we’ve heard stories where JUDGES have actually ADVISED individuals caught engaging in the illegal market to go work in the legal brothels instead.

And what about sex workers working in the illegal market who are being physically or mentally abused by their illegal pimp?  Wouldn’t it be understandable if they decided to escape such unsafe and abusive working conditions and instead move into a legal brothel?

Sure, previous experience as an illegal sex worker might be an indicator of human sex trafficking.  But it could also be an indicator of someone logically and understandably deciding that working in a legal brothel is safer and less risky.

You simply cannot jump to the conclusion that all sex workers with a previous history in sex work are being “trafficked.”

So what have we learned, class?

First, never take newspaper headlines at face value.

Secondly, the actual screening “problem” has not been by the brothels.

Thirdly, maybe there are some possible examples of actual sex trafficking going on…or maybe not.

The good news and positive development in all of this is that Sheriff McNeil and the LCSO are now working in PARTNERSHIP with Lyon County’s legal brothels and legal sex workers to find solutions rather than working as adversaries.

The legal brothels don’t want sex trafficking any more than anyone else.  They get thousands of applications from individuals who want to work legally every year.  Willingly.  Knowingly.  Without coercion.

Together, the LCSO and the brothels are now working to update and refine the screening procedures for sex worker applicants that will better protect both the community and the workers themselves.  This is a good thing.

The current system of legal brothels in Lyon County – which has been in place for almost 50 years – isn’t broken.  It just needs a little modernization.  You don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Prostitution will continue to exist in Lyon County with or without the licensed, regulated and taxed legal brothels.  The legal system – while not perfect – is far better.