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(Chuck Muth) – While it has yet to convene its first meeting, the Nevada Legislature’s “Brothel Study Committee” already appears to have taken on the political attributes of what Groucho Marx once described as “the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.”

Indeed, the committee’s mandate is to study the health and safety of sex workers working in Nevada’s rural legal brothels – where they are licensed, regulated by the government and work in a safe, protected environment.

But the Legislature has prohibited legal brothels in Clark County.  And not surprisingly, that’s where the trouble is and where the health and safety of sex workers is most at risk.

Consider this story from Friday’s Las Vegas Review-Journal…

“Online court records show that Rontu Ary Elam, 41, is charged with sex trafficking, coercion, domestic battery by strangulation and domestic battery with substantial bodily harm. The charges stem from two October 2019 matters investigated by the Southern Nevada Human Trafficking Task Force.

“In one, a security officer at the Wild Wild West casino on West Tropicana Avenue reported encountering a screaming woman, dressed only in her underwear, who said she was beaten by a man she identified as her ‘pimp.’

“’She was punched in the mouth and thrown out of a maroon 4-door Lincoln sedan,’ an arrest report for Elam states. ‘(She) said she was hit by her pimp and thrown from the vehicle because she was not doing what she was supposed to.’

“The woman told police Elam…had punched her in the face before she was thrown out of the car, causing her to hit her head and lose consciousness.”

In the second incident, police found the victim with her “left eye bruised and swollen.”

“Elam struck her numerous times all over her body, placed his hands around her neck which restricted her breathing to the point of losing consciousness,” police wrote.

But she refused to cooperate with law enforcement because she had several prior arrests for prostitution and “was afraid Elam would kill her and that police would be unable to keep her safe.”

When the Brothel Study Committee convenes, the public would be better served – as would the health and safety of sex workers in Nevada – if it would stop looking for trouble everywhere and focus on where it truly exists.

And that’s NOT in the state’s legal brothels.

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.

(Chuck Muth) – Matt Bieker of Reno News & Review inked an excellent, comprehensive column this week on the Mustang Ranch, one of Nevada’s legal brothels located just outside Reno in Storey County.

Mr. Bieker took advantage of an open house tour hosted by Jennifer Barnes and Tara Atkins, the operation’s managing madams, in conjunction with the release of a new video, “The Power of Human Touch,” which tells the oft-overlooked aspects of the legal commercial sex industry in the state.

“Adkins and Barnes have worked at Mustang Ranch for almost 20 years, and believe courtesans offer services that go beyond just the act of selling sex,” Bieker wrote.

“Adkins mentioned a mother of an autistic man who brought him from New York to Reno for an appointment.  And a regular who started coming to the ranch after an accident left him paralyzed from the neck down.  Many of these clients aren’t looking for sex, the madams said, and those who are regard the ranch as a judgment-free space.”

Nevada is the only state in the country that allows legal brothels to operate, but only in a handful of rural counties.  Prostitution is still illegal in Washoe and Clark counties, home to Reno and Las Vegas respectively.

Nevada’s brothels are licensed, taxed and heavily regulated by the counties in which they operate.  The women who work independently at the various ranches are required to undergo an FBI background check, obtain a work card from the local sheriff and pass regular medical tests to protect them and their clientele from sexually transmitted diseases.

There has never been a single case of AIDS/HIV traced back to a legal Nevada brothel.

Not good enough, say brothel bashers.

“The idea that they are providing some sort of a therapeutic service like a massage or something, it’s just that PR firm trying to put, you know, lipstick on a pig, essentially,” Jason Guinasso, a creepy Reno lawyer who has labored unsuccessfully for years to shut the industry down, told Bieker.

Guinasso maintains “that the correlation between the legal sex industry in our state and illegal sex trafficking are inextricably linked.”

Absurd.  That’s like saying the correlation between legal drug stores (e.g., CVS and Walgreens) in our state and illegal drug trafficking are inextricably linked.

But to give you an even better idea of just how deranged the “thinking” of this guy and his disciples is, get this…

On Thursday Guinasso tweeted out a link to a “Dirty Dozen” website naming Nevada as a “major contributor to sexual exploitation” because of our legal brothels – despite the fact that every woman who works in one does so of their own free will.

But these sex-obsessed crusaders went even further by bemoaning the election results of a recent Guinasso-led ballot initiative…

“(N)early 81% of the voters in Lyon County, Nevada voted to keep brothels legal in 2018. This made 81% of Lyon County citizens complicit in the sex trade, and therefore complicit in the sexual exploitation – and even sex trafficking – of countless women.”

Got that?

It’s not just the vermin who are actually involved in illegal sex trafficking; it’s the average voter – many of whom are churchgoers, by the way – who are guilty of sexual exploitation simply for voting to live and let live when it comes to Nevada’s legal and safe brothels.

We’re ALL sex traffickers now!

Lance Gilman, owner of the Mustang Ranch, “believes brothels are an easy target for anti-trafficking campaigns,” but points out that “the real threats come from unlicensed establishments where the connection to the sex trade is already implied.”

“For example,” Gilman told Bieker, “it’s rampant in the massage industry” where “there’s no oversight” and “no work cards.”

“And the other thing that happens,” he continued, “is so much of the trafficking takes place, like, for example, in Las Vegas and the hotels. The criminal element has found a way to make an incredible amount of off-tax money by operating at something that’s so much in demand.”

Exactly.  Nevada’s high rate of sex trafficking is fueled almost entirely by Las Vegas – where legal brothels are PROHIBITED and the nearest legal brothel is an hour-and-a-half drive away.

Indeed, it’s the ABSENCE of legal brothels in Clark County that fuels the illegal market there, not the legal brothels in neighboring Nye County.  In fact, illegal prostitution is practically non-existent in counties where brothels are legally operating.

Gilman favors regulating prostitution “just like gaming” to protect both the women who work in the industry and the public.

“It should happen within four walls, with strong oversight and administration by the government, so that the right people get involved and the right controls are involved,” Gilman argues.  “(None of the women are) going to be hurt on our watch. That doesn’t happen in the outside world. They’re vulnerable.”

In Lance Gilman’s world, the women who work voluntarily in the legal commercial sex industry are safe.

In Jason Guinasso’s world, women working in the illegal commercial sex industry, including minors, are often in it against their will, abused, physically assaulted and even killed.

In an intellectual battle royale between Gilman and Guinasso on this issue, the Mustang Ranch business owner would crush the creepy Reno lawyer any day ending in “y.”

Alas, we’ll never get to see it.

Guinasso is a “keyboard warrior” who does all his “fighting” on social media and in paper lawsuits.  If he ever DID “man up” and agree to debate Gilman one-on-one/face-to-face on this issue, he’d have to be outfitted with a pair of Depends under his mom jeans.

Boy, would I ever pay good money to see THAT!

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.

Carson City, Nev. – Mustang Ranch, Nevada’s oldest operational brothel, has recently partnered with Bliss Life Media and Nevada-based videographers Chris and Nick Stanton to produce a short video detailing the importance of human touch and the legal sex industry. The video highlights the stories of four courtesans and a madam of Mustang Ranch and the profound impact the profession has had on the clients visiting the Nevada brothel.

“Every day that these ladies decide to be a part of this profession is another day that they must fight the stigma surrounding legal prostitution,” said Jennifer Barnes, madam at Mustang Ranch. “This video not only highlights the importance of this work but the significant impact these ladies have on their clients and the power of human touch.”

The short video, which is almost eight minutes in length, depicts the personal accounts of legal courtesans Kristina Marie, Lena Starr, Vera Bliss and Amira and madam Jennifer Barnes and their experiences while working at Mustang Ranch. The ladies also detail the safety measures in place at the brothel, why they chose to work in the legal sex industry and the importance of their work for their clientele.

“At the heart of what this business is providing companionship, conversation and above all, an opportunity to connect with another human being through touch,” continued Barnes. “While I’m very proud of this profession and the people this industry helps, I’m also aware of the stigmas and negativity surrounding the legal sex industry. Through this video, we hope that people will want to ask more questions and begin to understand why we’ve chosen this profession over others.”

In the summer of 2018, several organizations sought to ban brothels throughout Nevada, focusing on several brothels in Lyon County owned by the late Dennis Hof. This initiative brought the conversation of legal brothels and the morality of prostitution in Nevada to the forefront of the media and political agendas. Furthermore, due to the profession becoming a focal point of discussion, an opportunity was presented to Mustang Ranch to speak to the importance of a legal and regulated sex industry.

“I have owned Mustang Ranch for close to 20 years and have seen, first hand, the importance of a legal and regulated sex industry, not only for the safety of the women working in this profession but also for the clients benefiting from its services,” said Lance Gilman, owner of Mustang Ranch. “This video not only highlights these benefits but also demonstrates that these are well-educated, driven and eloquent women who have chosen this profession because of their desire to help people and felt that they couldn’t fulfill that goal in any other line of work.”

Mustang Ranch is located in Storey County, Nev. right outside of Reno.

(Chuck Muth) – Last year, the Nevada Legislature commissioned an interim study committee to look into the working conditions of prostitutes.

Unfortunately, the committee – as reported recently by Ricardo Torres-Cortez of the Las Vegas Sun – won’t be looking into this heart-wrenching situation…

“The man beat, berated, choked, sprayed with Mace, and prostituted the teenage victim. Once, when he rented a hotel room and she couldn’t get a ‘John,’ he forced her head under water in a bathtub as punishment.

“Another time, after she told Brandon Lamar Pruitt she was raped by a client, he ‘punched and hit her repeatedly because she did not know her cross streets and ‘allowed’ her own rape,’ Nevada prosecutors wrote in federal court documents.”

Torres-Cortez notes that the average age of similar victims of sex trafficking in Las Vegas is…14.

“Those are kids who should be in middle school,” lamented Nicholas Trutanich, the U.S. attorney for Nevada who successfully prosecuted Pruitt.

So why isn’t the legislative study committee looking into the brutal and violent “working conditions” of sex-trafficked teens in Las Vegas?

Because the bill authorizing the committee limited the scope of the study to only the working conditions of commercial sex workers in Nevada’s legal brothels.

And brothels are NOT legal in Las Vegas – despite the erroneous belief by some that it is.  In fact, legal brothels are only licensed in a handful of Nevada’s rural counties.

Not Las Vegas.  And not Reno.  Where the REAL problems are.

Indeed, trafficking underage teen girls in Nevada’s legal brothels is all but impossible since everyone must undergo an FBI background check and apply for a sheriff’s card to work there.  The only way someone underaged can work in a legal brothel is if they lie about their age and somehow fool the FBI with fake documents.

Sadly – some might even say outrageously – the Legislature decided to only investigate and study the working conditions in Nevada’s legal brothels where adult women, of their own free will, CHOOSE to work in a safe and lawful environment.

Where they don’t have to fear being beaten, choked, sprayed with Mace or water-boarded by a violent street pimp.

Where they don’t have to fear going into a stranger’s car or hotel room and never coming out.

Where the don’t have to fear reporting assaults, rapes and other crimes without incriminating themselves.

Where they don’t have to fear contracting a sexually transmitted disease since weekly testing and condom use is mandatory.

Where they don’t have to fear anyone taking their earnings other than the tax man at the IRS.

The working conditions in Nevada’s rural legal brothels are NOT the problem.

The REAL problem is on the mean streets of Las Vegas and Reno.

If Nevada legislators really want to help improve the working conditions of commercial sex workers, they’d stop wasting time on the safe, licensed and regulated brothel operations in Elko, Lyon, Storey and Nye counties and focus on where the REAL problems are.

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.

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.

(Chuck Muth) – Katelyn Newburg of the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported recently that an underage girl was raped and robbed by a 27-year-old man, Dijan Anderson, outside the Bellagio Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip.

The girl, reportedly under 16 years of age with autism and other developmental disabilities, “told a security guard at the hotel’s north valet area that a man took her purse and punched her in the head because she refused to solicit sex for him.”

“The girl told officers she was on the Strip with other people when they were approached by a group of men, including Anderson, who asked her to solicit men for him,” the RJ reported.  “The girl ‘said she wasn’t going to participate and started to cry because she didn’t like it,’ the (police) report said.”

“Around 3:30 a.m., the girl and Anderson began walking through Bellagio; the girl told officers he then took her to a bushy area outside the casino and raped her, the report said.”

Ms. Newburg continued…

“Surveillance footage showed that Anderson and the girl walked behind some bushes and that 20 minutes later the girl came back without her purse and a man was running from the area, the report said.

“Later that morning, surveillance footage showed Anderson speaking with a woman near the MGM Grand and hitting her multiple times. Bystanders try to help in the video, but Anderson ‘chases them away’ while appearing to hold a gun, the report said.”

Horrific.

But it can’t be ignored that this assault occurred in the one county in Nevada, Clark (Las Vegas), where legal brothels are prohibited by state law.

The Nevada Legislature has authorized a Brothel Study Committee to look into the employment conditions of women working in Nevada’s legal brothels.

But if legislators are truly interested in the health, safety and welfare of women in Nevada who work in the sex industry, they need to look at the dire and dangerous conditions faced by those who work where commercial sexual services are ILLEGAL.

THAT’S where most of the real problems are. THAT’S where the real dangers lie.  And ignoring them won’t make them go away.

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.