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October 9, 2020 By Chuck Muth

Chicken Ranch Attorney Calls on Guv to Reopen Brothels

(The following is a transcript of testimony delivered by Deanna Forbush to members of Nevada’s COVID-19 Mitigation and Management Task Force on October 8, 2020)

Nye County has established and maintained a low Covid-19 positivity rate (6.4). And while the Governor has opened all other businesses in the county, he keeps brothels closed for no rational reason.

To maintain his emergency executive authority the Governor must avoid acting in an arbitrary or capricious manner. He would accomplish this by evaluating and treating all businesses with the same criterion.

He has not done that here.

Some businesses are open while others remain closed, and the decisions made in this regard have clearly been, not only arbitrary and capricious, but also prejudicial and unconstitutional.

So far, all my client has been told is the Governor is not “focused on brothels, that he is more interested in getting kids back in school, and he doesn’t like skin-on- skin activity.”

I have to tell you just how hurt the people who work in this lawful industry are, people forced out of work for eight months, and whose kids are hungry. They are very hurt to learn just how little they mean to their Governor, many who voted for him.

Also, there are plenty of “skin-on-skin” businesses which have been allowed to open while my Client remains closed.

1. Dentists and their hygienists who probe their patents’ mouths with their fingers for up to 30-60 minutes at a time are open. Yes, they wear gloves. But our customers have been wearing just as much latex protection as they do, long before COVID. And, when allowed to open our doors, just like the dental professionals, our customers and contractors will be required to wear masks at all times pursuant to the protocols we’ve submitted to our county and were approved overwhelmingly.

2. Spas and massage parlors are open where, while wearing nothing more than a sheet, a person can have their bodies massaged and rubbed with oils and lotions by an ungloved masseuse for up to 90 uninterrupted minutes.

3. Eyelash and hair salons are open. Technicians apply lashes with ungloved fingers in their customers’ eyes for 60 minutes straight. Hair stylists stand over their customers, washing their hair, massaging their scalps, cutting their hair, and then blowing it dry, sometimes for two hours without interruption.

4. Escort Services are open, which, as I understand it, involves one-on-one dating of persons who are typically unfamiliar with one another.

Meanwhile, brothels remain closed because the Governor doesn’t like skin-on-skin activity?

The Governor should understand that every business is essential to the people who work there as well as to those who patronize these establishments.

Killing the economy will not kill the virus. We simply will not change the course of the pandemic with an economic lockdown. However, what’s simply unfair, is the government has disparately applied its opening metrics creating winners and losers. That is not the function of government.

If the state’s metrics were being evenly applied, my client would be open. Elected leaders and government staff must not allow their own individual prejudices or moral judgements to discriminate against lawful businesses by applying different standards to similar industries.

Beyond being unfair, the system employed to date, is blatantly unconstitutional. The Constitutionality of Emergency Directives are subject to the constitutional guarantees of due process and equal protection.

The Equal Protection Clause under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution requires that before a government can treat similarly situated groups differently, there must be a rational relationship between the disparity of treatment and a legitimate governmental purpose.

This principal is reinforced by the 14th Amendment’s Procedural Due Process, requiring that before a government can deprive individuals of liberty or property, i.e., their businesses, it must show that it is acting for a public purpose, and that its actions are not “arbitrarily or without some reasonable relation to that stated purpose.”

There is no possible rational relationship between keeping my client closed and the public’s safety.

People who frequent my client’s establishment do not engage in group activity, services are provided one-on-one. As I listed above, the government has allowed businesses with indistinguishable risk factors to open, and has also permitted “super spreader” events to go forward with impunity, due to the participants’ constitutional rights.

These same constitutional rights are also guaranteed to my Client. Instead, my Client’s rights have been denied for over eight months.

The Governor has likely noticed the lawsuits which have been filed around the country. These suits have not turned out well for governors.

For instance, in Pennsylvania, that state’s Supreme Court told Governor Wolf that his order shutting down businesses violated the 14th Amendment. Michigan’s Governor Whitmer learned from her Supreme Court that her actions were unconstitutional. The same thing happened in Wisconsin where that state‘s Supreme Court overturned it’s governor’s mandates.

Unless legal businesses in Nevada are allowed to re-open, the same thing will happen here.

My Client does not wish to join the long list of businesses which have sued the Governor and this state for his unconstitutional actions. We don’t want to be part of the problem facing this great state. Instead, we wish to be part of the solution, by putting thousands of people who work in this lawful industry back to work so their families no longer suffer. We want our counties to again become prosperous with the economic activity our businesses generate.

Please help us do that by issuing one more Directive opening our businesses, and putting our people back to work. Thank you.

Ms. Forbush is an attorney with the firm of Fox Rothschild who represents the Chicken Ranch brothel in Nye County.

Filed Under: Blog

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Suzette Cole, CEO, Moonlite Bunny Ranch

“Prostitution is the oldest profession and will not go away.  Nevada has been doing it right since 1971 when we took it out of the criminal’s hands and put it into a highly-regulated industry.  As an added benefit, there has never been a case of HIV/AIDS in the history of legal brothels here…and you can’t say that about any other profession in the United States.”

John Stossel, Syndicated Columnist

“We don’t have to cheer for prostitution, or think it’s nice, to keep government out of it and let participants make up their own minds.  It’s wrong to ban sex workers’ options just to make ourselves feel better.”

Steve Chapman, Syndicated Columnist

“Prohibition doesn’t eliminate the harms generally associated with prostitution, such as violence, human trafficking and disease. On the contrary, it fosters them by driving the business underground.”

Christina Parreira, UNLV Researcher/Sex Worker

“Sex work is my CHOICE.  I’d like to continue to have the opportunity to make that choice legally.  We don’t need protection. We’re consenting, adult women.”

Washington, DC Councilman David Grosso

“We need to stop arresting people for things that are not really criminal acts. We should arrest someone for assault…but when it’s two adults engaging in a consensual sex act, I don’t see why that should be an arrestable offense”

New York Assemblyman Richard Gottfried

“Trying to stop sex work between consenting adults should not be the business of the criminal justice system.”

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker

“Yes, sex work should be decriminalized.  As a general matter, I don’t believe that we should be criminalizing activity between consenting adults, and especially when doing so causes even more harm for those involved.”

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders

“I think the idea of legalizing prostitution is something that should be considered…(and) certainly needs to be discussed.”

U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris

“When you’re talking about consenting adults, I think that, yes, we should really consider that we can’t criminalize consensual behavior, as long as no one is being harmed. … We should not be criminalizing women who are engaged in consensual opportunities for employment.”

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren

“I believe humans should have autonomy over their own bodies and they get to make their own decisions. … I am open to decriminalizing sex work. Sex workers, like all workers, deserve autonomy and are particularly vulnerable to physical and financial abuse.”

U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard

“If a consenting adult wants to engage in sex work, that is their right, and it should not be a crime. All people should have autonomy over their bodies and their labor.”

Gov. John Hickenlooper

“Legalizing prostitution and regulating it, so there are norms and protections and we understand more clearly how people are being treated and make sure we prevent abuse, I think it should be really looked at.”

Mike Gravel, former Alaska Senator

“Sex workers are workers, and they deserve the dignity and respect that every worker deserves. For too long, we’ve denied them that. Sex workers, not politicians, should lead the way in crafting sex work policy.”

Prof. Ronald Weitzer, George Washington University:

“Unlike illegal street prostitution in many other places, Nevada’s legal brothels do not disturb public order, create nuisances, or negatively impact local communities in other ways. Instead, they provide needed tax revenue for cash-strapped rural towns.”

Prof. Barbara Brents, UNLV author, “State of Sex”:

“Teams of scholars…have concluded that Nevada’s legal brothels provide a far safer environment for sex workers than the criminalized system in the rest of the United States.”

Prof. Sarah Blithe, UNR author, “Sex and Stigma”:

“Discussions of legal prostitution are rife with misinformation.  Academic work and popular press publications alike often conflate legal prostitution in the United States with illegal prostitution.”

Lee Herz Dixon:

“Do I think eradicating legal prostitution from all Nevada counties will erase the practice of the oldest profession in the state, or break the nexus of drugs, crime, and exploitation of the vulnerable? I do not.”

Journalist Michael Cernovich:

“It’s empirically proven that criminalizing sex work allows children to be sex trafficked more readily as they are afraid to turn to authorities and wonder if they will be arrested.”

Enrique Carmona:

“We need to put aside moralistic prejudices, whether based on religion or an idealistic form of feminism, and figure out what is in the best interests of the sex workers and public interest as well.”

Ruby Rae, professional courtesan

“In the brothels, we have the choice, always, to say which clients we will say yes and no to. We have staff that would never let a man hurt us, and we have a clientele that do not come here to hurt us.”

Kiki Lover, professional courtesan:

“We are human beings who chose to do sex work on our own free will. We get treated with respect and like family at the brothels. It’s a job just like any other job. We sell a service that all humans need.”

Paris Envy, professional courtesan:

“I’m not ‘exploited.’ I’m not ‘trafficked.’ I’m not ‘brainwashed.’ I don’t need to be ‘saved.’ I’ve freely chosen this line of work, which is a legal, private transaction between consenting adults.”

Alice Little, professional courtesan:

“It’s ILLEGAL sex work that exploits children. It’s ILLEGAL sex work that traffics. It’s ILLEGAL sex work that sees women exploited and abused by pimps.”

Jim Shedd, Nevadan

“Prostitution should be licensed, regulated, taxed like any other service industry.  There are many single or widowed men and women who should be able to take advantage of such services provided by consenting adults for consenting adults. Let’s act to at least reduce illegal sex trafficking and other sex crimes by creating safe and legal outlets for paying adults who wish to use them.”

Paul Bourassa, brothel customer:

“Some people are just never given a chance in the dating scene, so brothels offer those of us with no experience a chance to learn what it’s like to be on a date.”

Lewis Dawkins, brothel customer:

“It’s not always about sex. Little compliments and encouragements offered by the ladies help build my self-confidence. It’s a business, yes. But the ladies care personally about their clients. That means a lot.”

Brett Caton, brothel customer:

“I think brothels provide an important function in society. Legal ones give a safe outlet to their customers and for some men it is the only way they get so much as a hug.”

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The Nevada Brothel Association PAC is a coalition of legal brothel owners, brothel workers, brothel clients and brothel supporters dedicated to defending a woman’s right to choose professional sex work as a career, protecting the public’s health and safety, and preserving Nevada’s rich live-and-let-live heritage.

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