Sex workers keep secrets, brothel assures potential GOP conventioneers

A Nevada brothel has a message for anyone, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who thinks legalized prostitution in parts of Nevada will — or should — keep the 2016 Republican National Convention from convening in Las Vegas.

It’s time to reassess.

Earlier this week, Reid, Nevada’s top Democrat, told the Reno Gazette-Journal he supported bringing the 2016 GOP convention to Las Vegas. But, Reid said, Nevada’s laws allowing prostitution could present a roadblock for such an effort, even though prostitution is illegal in Las Vegas.

“There are people who don’t come to the state of Nevada for a number of reasons, like our education system and the image that we have,” Reid told the Reno newspaper. “And one of the (bad) images we have had, gambling, has long since passed as a negative. But prostitution hasn’t.”

Bunk, wrote Jeremy Lemur, a spokesman for The Resort at Sheri’s Ranch – a legal brothel in Pahrump – in a blog published online Thursday.

He listed three reasons why Las Vegas should be the host city for the 2016 Republican gathering.

• First, Lemur pointed to Tampa, Fla., site of the most recent Republican National Convention.

Tampa, Lemur said, “has some of the highest rates of sex trafficking in the Sunshine State and child sex trafficking is a particular problem in the Bay area.

“These serious prostitution-related issues didn’t seem to bother Republicans when they considered Tampa, so why would they have an issue with a state that enforces legal prostitution?” Lemur asked.

Additionally, he pointed out, “Nevada’s licensed brothels only allow safe sex between mature consenting adults in a secure, STD-free environment. Sex trafficking and child prostitution are abhorred by representatives of the legal Nevada sex work community.”

• Secondly, customers need not worry because brothel workers know how to keep secrets.

“The legal prostitutes of Nevada’s bordellos service thousands of satisfied customers annually,” Lemur wrote. “Despite all of these men, women, and couples coming through the brothel doors, no customer has ever been outed or exposed by legal courtesans or brothel employees.”

Using the services of a sex worker can break a political career, Lemur reasoned, “so why not host political events in locations close to legalized brothels, where public servants can blow off steam in a worry-free environment?”

• Lastly, Lemur says, prostitutes are voters, too. And as women, they’re part of a constituency that could help Republicans in the next election cycle in more ways than one.

“Why would the GOP shun a demographic that has exceptionally intimate access to such a large number of their constituents?” Lemur wrote. “If Republicans choose Las Vegas as the location for the 2016 convention, the event would certainly boost business for these hard-working women – and they know how to return a favor. A Las Vegas RNC just might be a step in the right direction for Republicans hoping to gain favor with one of the most influential groups in the nation, whose clientele extends to the most powerful figures from both sides of the political aisle.”