Gibbons says Nevada has outgrown legal brothels

RENO " Gov. Jim Gibbons this afternoon said Nevada has outgrown legal prostitution and that, if a bill banning the business crossed his desk, he'd sign it.

Gibbons made the comments in an interview after he addressed the Nevada Hotel and Lodging Association luncheon at Reno's Grand Sierra hotel when asked whether he agreed with the recent court ruling which said it is unconstitutional to deny brothels the right to advertise.

"I'm one of those who doesn't support the industry but I understand the First Amendment issue," he told reporters in the hallway. "I don't think you can deny a legal business the right to advertise."

He said even his mother believed legal prostitution had a place in Nevada because "it was better to have them regulated, controlled and tested (for disease) than walking the streets of Reno."

"That's an historical perspective but over the last half-century, we've matured," he said.

Referencing the association he just finished speaking to, he said, "I don't see legal prostitution as part of the tourism base in Nevada."

Brothels and prostitution are prohibited in Washoe, Clark, Carson and Douglas among others, but are legal in neighboring Storey and Lyon counties. In several others including Elko, county ordinance is simply silent on the subject, legalizing brothels by default.

Gibbons told the association in his mind, tourism is "the hub of the wheel of our economy."

"In Nevada, tourism is everyone's business."