In the News

(Amy Alonzo | Mason Valley News) – Former Lyon County Sheriff Al McNeil was kept “behind the scenes” while helping with the creation of a 2018 referendum drafted by the anti-prostitution group No Little Girl, according to emails obtained by the Mason Valley News through a public records request to the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office. . . .

In an April 2018 email, a woman working on the referendum question asked Reno-based attorney Jason Guinasso, attorney for No Little Girl, “Is the Sheriff okay with the public knowing he’s on board?”

Guinasso replied, “Ask the Sheriff directly. We may need to keep him behind the scenes.” . . .

McNeil was also involved in gathering signatures to support the referendum, according to emails from Guinasso. He spoke to pastors at Vineyard Church in Yerington, Journey Church in Fernley and Calvary Chapel in Dayton about helping with “kick-off efforts” and confirmed dates and times for meetings with those churches. . . .

However, as the 2018 election approached with visible lack of support for shutting the brothels, McNeil continued to attempt to drum up support for the anti-brothel movement.

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(Amy Alonzo | Mason Valley News) – A Reno attorney is trying to obtain access to women’s applications to work in Lyon County brothels, forms that include Social Security numbers, criminal history, past addresses and emergency contacts.

Attorney Jason Guinasso, in court documents, said the information request is “relevant to an investigation underway by my office.”

Lyon County has thus far denied Guinasso’s requests, claiming the information is not part of the public record. . . .

Lyon County District Attorney Steve Rye said the county is following legislation that recommends keeping the records private. “When somebody comes in and applies for a work card, do they automatically assume all that information is public?”

“Lyon County has it right,” said Mark Wray, attorney for the Lyon County brothels. “Merely because information appears in a record that is public doesn’t mean that all the information in the document belongs in the public realm. There’s no public interest in knowing the name and address of someone who works as a prostitute.”

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(Mohave Valley Daily News) – A bill introduced in the Nevada Senate on Thursday seeks to ban the nation’s only legal brothels by outlawing prostitution.

Republican state Sen. Joe Hardy said brothels have no place in Nevada and attract women with few economic options who get stuck in an abusive industry. . . . Democratic Sen. Pat Spearman also signed on as a sponsor of the legislation, saying the legal bordellos can disguise sex trafficking. . . .

Alice Little, who works at a brothel in Lyon County, said she appreciates Hardy’s concern, but argued the legislation would only harm sex workers like herself.

“At the end of the day, it’s our jobs, our bodies, our consent that should matter,” she said. “I don’t need somebody who has never even met me to be passing judgment about whether my job should or should not be allowed.”

“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.

Parreira, a doctoral candidate at the University of Nevada Las Vegas who also conducted academic research at the brothels, said legal brothel work empowers women to leave pimps and abusive relationships and support their families.

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(Associated Press) – A bill introduced in the Nevada Senate on Thursday seeks to ban the nation’s only legal brothels by outlawing prostitution.

Republican state Sen. Joe Hardy said brothels have no place in Nevada and attract women with few economic options who get stuck in an abusive industry. Democratic Sen. Pat Spearman also signed on as a sponsor of the legislation, saying the legal bordellos can disguise sex trafficking. . . .

Sex workers and brothel backers have promised to fight the Nevada measure. They argue a ban would hurt struggling rural economies and drive women out of a regulated environment and into dangerous street prostitution.

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(Bill Dentzer | Las Vegas Review-Journal) – A bipartisan pair of state senators Thursday introduced a bill to ban prostitution outright in Nevada, the only state where it’s legal.

Senate Bill 413, sponsored by Sens. Pat Spearman, D-North Law Vegas, and Joe Hardy, R-Boulder City, was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee for hearings. . . .

Chuck Muth, speaking for the Nevada Brothel Association, said the group has expected the bill and was reviewing it. He called it “unfortunate” that it targeted legal brothels instead of going after illegal prostitution where it occurs.

“I just think it’s a misdirected effort,” he said. . . .

One brothel owner dismissed the bill as misguided.

“Folks don’t realize, we’re the safest place in Nevada to be,” said Lance Gilman, speaking about The Mustang Ranch brothel he owns in Storey County.

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(Miranda Willson | Las Vegas Sun) – Live and let live – and leave it up to the counties. For decades, that has been Nevada’s attitude toward legal prostitution in the 10 rural counties where the practice is permitted. . . .

Assemblywoman Lesley Cohen, D-Henderson, wonders how these inconsistent regulations impact working conditions for sex workers, and if they make it more difficult for legal prostitutes to know their rights.

That’s why she is proposing a bill, ACR6, to create a legislative committee to study the working conditions of brothels and determine the extent to which Nevada’s brothels “provide for the health, safety and general welfare of sex workers.” . . .

Cohen emphasized that she has no intention of bringing forward legislation to change the legality of prostitution in Nevada. . . .

Chuck Muth, a spokesperson for the Nevada Brothel Association, said that while he generally supports “limited government,” he isn’t necessarily opposed to Cohen’s proposal.

“There may be some things that should be statewide, and maybe things that are better left at county level, but we’ll have to wait until the study is approved and committee gets into it to find out exactly where folks want to go with this,” Muth said.

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