In the News

(Miranda Willson | Las Vegas Sun) – A proposed amendment to a Nye County ordinance that would restrict the hours when legal prostitutes are permitted to leave licensed brothels has renewed a debate about the rights and working conditions of sex workers in Nevada.

The Nye County Commission has not yet set a date for a public hearing on the bill, said Arnold Knightly, the county spokesperson. A working draft of the proposal was crafted over the last two years and completed last month, said Nye County Commission Chairman John Koenig. It is expected to be introduced at the Oct. 15 commission meeting.

The proposed changes were decided by a group of local stakeholders, including brothel owners, “madams” of the brothels, the district attorney’s office, lawyers and other county officials, Koenig said. Previously, Nye County law stated that prostitutes were permitted to leave brothels for no more than 24 hours at a time without retesting.

Click here to continue reading

(Amy Alonzo, Mason Valley News) – Nevada sex workers are angry over a potential Nye County ordinance that would limit the number of hours courtesans could leave their workplace before being retested for sexually transmitted diseases. Some workers claim they are being locked down simply for the convenience of the brothel owners, who allegedly proposed the ordinance changes.

Current Nye County policy requires brothel workers be tested weekly for STDs, but also allows workers to leave their work sites for up to 24 hours; if workers leave the work site for longer than 24 hours, they must be retested to work.

Under the proposed ordinance, workers’ leave will be reduced to six hours between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. for every 10 days worked without being tested. If the worker has a verified medical appointment, she will be able to leave the brothel for up to 12 hours between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.

Click here to continue reading

Shereen El Feki of BBC News reported this week that legal brothels in the African nation of Tunisia are on their last legs; victims of “pressure from women’s rights activists and religious conservatives” – primarily Ennahda, Tunisia’s Islamist party.

This mirrors similar efforts by religious conservatives to close legal brothels in rural Nevada.

Some excerpts from the article..

Tunisia has a two-tier system of prostitution. One is made up of government-registered “maisons closes”, or brothels, where female sex workers are authorised by the state to ply their trade. The other involves illegal freelance sex work, where the people involved risk up to two years in prison if convicted.

When Amira, 25, started working in Sfax five years ago, there were 120 legal sex workers. Now she is one of a dozen left.

“We used to make a living for our children, pay our rent. We don’t anymore. Actually, I don’t have anything else. If they kick us from there, where we would go?” …

Over in Tunis, Nadia, a divorcee in her 40s, knows the answer all too well.

She misses her life in the legal system: “It is not the same as when we were in the protected brothel, with a doctor [for weekly medical exams], a female condom and a madam [who kept an eye on proceedings].”

“Now when I get a client I am scared because I don’t have anyone who can protect me or stand by my side. …

Afef, a former madam whose brothel was recently shuttered, explained the difficulties.

“Even if [a former sex worker] goes to work in a restaurant to clean dishes,” she said, “one or two days later, they will say that this woman was working in a brothel and the boss would say: ‘Sorry I cannot hire you.'”

To read the full article, click here

(Bree Zender | KUNR) – A federal lawsuit was filed earlier this year by an anti-legal brothel lawyer, claiming sex trafficking is rampant in the businesses. While brothel owners deny this, the suit aims to ban brothels in Nevada. Now, a prospective defendant is looking to add himself to the suit. KUNR Reporter and Host Bree Zender spoke with News Director Michelle Billman about this latest wrinkle.

ZENDER: Yeah, so his name is Russell Greer. He is a disability rights advocate and he lives in Salt Lake City. He’s attempting to add himself as a defendant in this federal lawsuit, and he says that legal brothels are the only place that he can pursue a romantic and sexual relationship. He says because the muscles in his face are paralyzed, that takes him out of a typical dating pool.

Greer started seeing sex workers a few years ago in Utah, where it is illegal. He said to me over Skype that fear of being arrested brought him to the [legal] brothels here in Nevada:

“It really boosts my self esteem. It is nice to be with someone who listens to you and who will touch [you.] There’s meaningful touching. You know, having a fun time.”

As Greer says, this provides him with an opportunity for intimacy that he doesn’t normally have. And by adding his name to this particular lawsuit, he wants to preserve the state’s brothel system so that he can continue to do that.

BILLMAN: Bree, is Russell Greer’s situation common, based on some of the reporting that you’ve done?

ZENDER: So, there are not really numbers for the ratio of people who have disabilities versus people who don’t have disabilities who visit brothels. That’s just not really a number that one can come up with. But, you know, anecdotally, I’ve been covering this topic for about a year now in Nevada, and nearly every sex worker that I’ve spoken to says that folks with disabilites are a good portion of their client base. But we also want to be careful not to generalize because people with disabilities are a wide spectrum of people and not everyone feels the need to visit brothels.

BILLMAN: Bree, remind me about the plaintiffs in this case. Who are they, and what are they arguing?

ZENDER: So, there are three plaintiffs in this case. One of them, the one that’s received the most media attention, is Rebekah Charleston. She was forced into prostitution as a teenager, and one of her traffickers forced her into a legal brothel in Nevada. She says that because prostitution is legal in Nevada, it attracts a bunch of illegal sex trafficking, and a higher illegal sex trafficking trade that isn’t there in other states.

Her lawyer, Jason Guinasso, says that because there are legal brothels in Nevada and they have promotions online, it’s bringing people over state lines, which violates the Mann Act. [That] prohibits people from travelling over state lines for ‘immoral things’–that’s 1910 language–‘immoral’ things, like prostitution.

BILLMAN: And returning to Greer, who wants to become a defendant…he isn’t new to advocating for legal prostitution. Tell me about that.

ZENDER: A couple of years ago, he filed a business license application in Salt Lake City. He wanted to start his own brothel. The business license was first accepted by mistake, but then was retracted when they found out he was wanting to start a brothel. He sued the state of Utah. The case was dismissed, but he did want to take it to the supreme court [in an attempt] to try to legalize brothels everywhere, really. He compared it to the same-sex marriage case, where a couple was denied a marriage license, and then they sued and took it all the way to the supreme court, and then it was legalized back in 2015. So, he was aiming for that similar projectory for this suit, but not much has been brewing about the suit since then.

BILLMAN: And what’s the status of the suit right now? What else can you tell us?

ZENDER: Sure, so the original defendant, the State of Nevada, is attempting to have the lawsuit dismissed. Storey County Commissioner and Mustang Ranch Brothel Owner Lance Gilman has also added himself as a defendant. He says he wants to preserve the system for the safety and wellbeing of the women who work there. The suit is still in its discovery period, so it’s a period of time where both sides of the suit go and research to try to find evidence to support their cases. Yeah, that’s where it’s at.

(Gustavo Turner | XBIZ) – A Nevada County Commission which has jurisdiction over the legal brothels nearest to Las Vegas has drafted proposed changes to the county code, which include officially discarding the stigmatizing term “prostitutes” in ordinances in favor of “courtesans” and reclassifying “houses of prostitution” as “brothels.”

The legal Nye County brothels are located between Las Vegas and the California state line in the towns of Amargosa Valley, Crystal and Pahrump.

The proposal’s new language redefines “prostitution” as “engaging in any act, for a fee, with the purpose of arousing or gratifying the sexual desire of either person,” which Chuck Muth, an adviser to the Nevada Brothel Association (NBA) criticized as “vague” and likely to be misused by anti-sex work advocates.

“I can see the Jason Guinasso’s of the world twisting that language to include, for example, women who dance in gentlemen’s clubs even if no actual sex act takes place,” Muth wrote. Guinasso is a Christian pastor and alpaca rancher from Reno who has made a local political career stigmatizing all sex workers and conflating legal sex work with human trafficking.

The NBA adviser also pointed out that there are no proposed changes to the prohibition to advertise brothels by “signs” or “print advertising,” in compliance with Nevada state law.

“I hope the soon-to-be convened Brothel Study Committee established by the 2019 Nevada Legislature takes a long, hard look at this issue,” Muth added. “If the business is legal, it should be allowed to legally advertise.”

The “Lockdowns” Controversy

The proposed changes also affect the controversial issue of “lockdowns,” rules supposedly enforced for public health reasons that confine courtesans to brothel property for set periods of time.

“Under the existing Nye County ordinance,” Muth explained, “a courtesan who leaves the property ‘in excess of twenty-four (24) hours’ must be re-tested for sexually transmitted diseases before being allowed to work again.”

This is popularly known among sex workers as “the 24-hour rule.”

The proposed language replaces “the 24-hour rule” with a contrived, thoroughly impractical version of “lockdowns”:

“Courtesans are allowed to leave the Brothel Premises for six (6) hours per ten (10) day medical clearance period during the hours of 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. A Courtesan with a verified medical appointment may leave the brothel premises for up to twelve (12) hours during the hours of 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Any Courtesan who leaves the Brothel Premises in excess of these hours per ten (10) day medical clearance shall be subject to all the medical testing requirements set forth in this chapter and any other applicable State laws and regulations prior to engaging in any act of prostitution.”

Muth and other sex workers advocates are indignant at the new language. “‘Allowed to leave’? For no more than six hours per 10-day period? And only between the hours of 8 a.m. and 3 p.m.? In America?” he wrote.

“If this ordinance passes I will never work in a Nye County brothel again.”

XBIZ spoke with Nevada-based adult performer Charlotte Sartre, who has worked at Nye County brothels.

“I was reading about it this morning,” Sartre told XBIZ. “It’s so stupid. Most brothels in Nye County already have a lockdown rule. Alien Cathouse adheres to the 24-hour rule.”

“But for fuck’s sake,” she added. “Only leaving between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m.? And only six hours in a ten-day period? It’s nuts!”

“If this ordinance passes I will never work in a Nye County brothel again. That’s how stupid it is,” Sartre concluded.

A final version of the bill is expected to be introduced at the county commission meeting on October 15, and a vote is expected at the November 19 meeting.

To read the proposed changes, “A Bill proposing to amend Nye County Code Title 9, Public Peace, Morals and Welfare, relating to Chapter 9.20, Prostitution; providing for the severability, constitutionality and effective date thereof, and other matters properly relating thereto,” click here.