Box Turtle Bulletin
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobby“Now you must raise your children up in a world where that union of man and box turtle is on the same legal footing as man and wife…”
News and commentary about the anti-gay lobbyJanuary 6th, 2010
We told you last month about the Shady Lady Ranch in Beatty, NV. It’s a purveyor of the world’s oldest trade that is seeking to expand business by employing a few good men. Now proprietress Bobbi Davis is going to get her chance.
“I personally feel, as do the many other women who have made contact with me since I started this, that this is a service whose time has come,” Davis said in a letter to Nye County officials.
A county board’s vote Tuesday affirming that Davis could offer “shady men” to her clientele followed months of rancorous debate among the state’s legal brothel community. The industry, in its own peculiar way, is somewhat conservative: Considered an anachronism of bawdy mining camps by some Nevada newcomers, it often balks at change.
None of the locals showed up to object. Perhaps they figured that any employment in this economy was bound to benefit the town.
But that doesn’t mean that no one objected. The complaint came from the man employed to protect the industry.
George Flint, longtime lobbyist for the Nevada Brothel Assn., has said that allowing male prostitutes could be the industry’s Pearl Harbor. He has hinted that brothels possibly offering gay sex — a choice each prostitute, as an independent contractor, would be free to make — might sour some legislators on the entire brothel system.
“This is the first time in the history of the world . . . that men have been licensed to sell sex,” Flint said Tuesday, his voice rising. “It’s never been done!”
Oh, I very much doubt that. And he needn’t worry so much about GAY SEX (eeeeek), as most of her business will probably come from women or couples.
Now that the licenses and approvals are in order, Bobbi is ready to select from the 100 or so applicants. If you rush, you can get your application in before she makes the cut.
Latest Posts
Featured Reports
In this original BTB Investigation, we unveil the tragic story of Kirk Murphy, a four-year-old boy who was treated for “cross-gender disturbance” in 1970 by a young grad student by the name of George Rekers. This story is a stark reminder that there are severe and damaging consequences when therapists try to ensure that boys will be boys.
When we first reported on three American anti-gay activists traveling to Kampala for a three-day conference, we had no idea that it would be the first report of a long string of events leading to a proposal to institute the death penalty for LGBT people. But that is exactly what happened. In this report, we review our collection of more than 500 posts to tell the story of one nation’s embrace of hatred toward gay people. This report will be updated continuously as events continue to unfold. Check here for the latest updates.
In 2005, the Southern Poverty Law Center wrote that “[Paul] Cameron’s ‘science’ echoes Nazi Germany.” What the SPLC didn”t know was Cameron doesn’t just “echo” Nazi Germany. He quoted extensively from one of the Final Solution’s architects. This puts his fascination with quarantines, mandatory tattoos, and extermination being a “plausible idea” in a whole new and deeply disturbing light.
On February 10, I attended an all-day “Love Won Out” ex-gay conference in Phoenix, put on by Focus on the Family and Exodus International. In this series of reports, I talk about what I learned there: the people who go to these conferences, the things that they hear, and what this all means for them, their families and for the rest of us.
Prologue: Why I Went To “Love Won Out”
Part 1: What’s Love Got To Do With It?
Part 2: Parents Struggle With “No Exceptions”
Part 3: A Whole New Dialect
Part 4: It Depends On How The Meaning of the Word "Change" Changes
Part 5: A Candid Explanation For "Change"
At last, the truth can now be told.
Using the same research methods employed by most anti-gay political pressure groups, we examine the statistics and the case studies that dispel many of the myths about heterosexuality. Download your copy today!
And don‘t miss our companion report, How To Write An Anti-Gay Tract In Fifteen Easy Steps.
Anti-gay activists often charge that gay men and women pose a threat to children. In this report, we explore the supposed connection between homosexuality and child sexual abuse, the conclusions reached by the most knowledgeable professionals in the field, and how anti-gay activists continue to ignore their findings. This has tremendous consequences, not just for gay men and women, but more importantly for the safety of all our children.
Anti-gay activists often cite the “Dutch Study” to claim that gay unions last only about 1½ years and that the these men have an average of eight additional partners per year outside of their steady relationship. In this report, we will take you step by step into the study to see whether the claims are true.
Tony Perkins’ Family Research Council submitted an Amicus Brief to the Maryland Court of Appeals as that court prepared to consider the issue of gay marriage. We examine just one small section of that brief to reveal the junk science and fraudulent claims of the Family “Research” Council.
The FBI’s annual Hate Crime Statistics aren’t as complete as they ought to be, and their report for 2004 was no exception. In fact, their most recent report has quite a few glaring holes. Holes big enough for Daniel Fetty to fall through.
“Google” is a trademark of Google Inc.
© Box Turtle Bulletin. All Rights Reserved.
Posts 
Posts via daily email:
wackadoodle
January 6th, 2010
“George Flint, longtime lobbyist for the Nevada Brothel Assn., has said that allowing male prostitutes could be the industry’s Pearl Harbor. He has hinted that brothels possibly offering gay sex — a choice each prostitute, as an independent contractor, would be free to make — might sour some legislators on the entire brothel system.”
We’ve joked about it for years, talking about how the bigots will back any cause as long as it lets them oppress gays. But they’ve followed their ‘family values’ logic to its disturbing conclusion:
THEY’RE DEFENDING THE SANCTITY OF PROSTITUTION!
Holy crap it’s like every joke I’ve made about the bigots over the last decade is coming true.
Burr
January 6th, 2010
This is definitely not the first time, but an appeal to tradition is always a retarded argument.
John
January 6th, 2010
“This is the first time in the history of the world . . . that men have been licensed to sell sex,†Flint said Tuesday, his voice rising. “It’s never been done!â€
So what, gay hookers will corrupt the sanctity of…prostitution??? Give me break. Besides that absurdity, Mr. Flint is quite ignorant of history to boot. Temple prostitutes of both sexes were VERY common in the ancient world, which many scholars believe St. Paul’s comments in Romans and Corinthians refer to. Heck, for that matter Google “Molly Houses”, Mr. Flint. I could care less whether there are “shady males” at this place or not because the whole business is disgusting anyways, but the not-so-subtle references to the supposed “Gay Agenda” from a man in charge of an immoral enterprise really is just too much.
Elise
January 6th, 2010
It’s especially weird because Bobbi Davis was quoted saying in the last article that her female prostitutes already have the option of serving male or female clients, so gay prostitution is already a reality in Nevada.
Oh wait, I forgot… lesbians don’t matter. It’s all about the men and–let’s be honest here–the buttsex.
Lynn David
January 6th, 2010
“This is the first time in the history of the world . . . that men have been licensed to sell sex,†Flint said Tuesday, his voice rising. “It’s never been done!â€
I thought Rome licensed prostitutes (licentia stupri)? And there were male prostitutes at Pompeii. Perhaps Flint needs to go back to school.
Désirée
January 7th, 2010
why is anyone referring to this as immoral? This is America – we are allowed to have sex; we are allowed to sell things; so why aren’t we allowed to sell sex? Makes no sense to me. How, when, why and for what cost anyone has sex isn’t a moral issue. It might be an ethical issue but not a moral one.
Leo
January 7th, 2010
Flint’s remark is completely disingenuous. The idea of licensing prostitution is comparatively new.
But men/boys have been working in oldest profession through out history. And not just in exotic foreign locales. In 19th century NYC teenage boys could be found in many “pansy bars” that often doubled as brothels like the Slide on Bleeker Street. There was at least one brothel on west 4th St. that offered nothing but male companionship.
If it’s legal for the ladies it’s should be legal the gents.
And I suspect your right, most of the business for these men probably will come from swinger/experimenting het couples not gay men.
grantdale
January 7th, 2010
Why would a lobbyist for a brothel association look like he has needed to pay for sex since before Classical Rome started taxing male whores?
Guess I answered my own question. And his.
Jarred
January 7th, 2010
So wait, is Mr. Flint really suggesting that people who support legal prostitution are suddenly going to quit supporting it simply because it’s legal for men to get in on the act, and possibly even service other men? I suppose it’s possible. But I’m having trouble considering it remotely plausible.
If people are supporting legal prostitution, it’s pretty clear that they have pretty liberal attitudes about sex. They don’t see it as something super-special that absolutely must only be shared between two people who absolutely love each other and want to be together forever. They’re okay with people who want to sell sexual experiences as a commodity.
To be blunt, this is not the profile I think of when I think of people who are gong to get their panties in a twist over two men (as Elise noted, it’s always about the men, not the lesbians) having sex. Even if they have sex for money.
Jarred
January 7th, 2010
Désirée:
Actually, I do think there are moral considerations about prostitution. There’s a difference between an independent contractor freely choosing to work at the Shady Lady and a prostitute who has been tricked into the profession and somehow coerced into remaining in it. There are also other issues with regards safety and exploitation. So while there may be nothing inherently immoral with having sex for money, there are a number of important peripheral concerns. Of course, legalizing prostitution and ensuring that licensed brothels maintain good standards while going after those individuals who do exploit and otherwise harm their prostitutes is a good way to address those peripheral issues.
I think part of the issue, though, is that most of us have a hard time imagining getting paid to have sex, or why anyone would want to have sex. We tend to see it as a matter of cheapening ourselves and our sexual experiences, and it’s hard to see any other perspective.
wackadoodle
January 7th, 2010
“why is anyone referring to this as immoral? This is America – we are allowed to have sex; we are allowed to sell things; so why aren’t we allowed to sell sex? Makes no sense to me. How, when, why and for what cost anyone has sex isn’t a moral issue. It might be an ethical issue but not a moral one.”
It’s completely illegal in most states to pay someone to have sex with you. UNLESS you set up a camera, tape it and sell copies. Then its perfectly legal.
Another one of America’s oh-so logical laws, makes as much sense as the ones banning pot or gays in the military.
Priya Lynn
January 7th, 2010
Desiree said “It might be an ethical issue but not a moral one.”.
Ethics and morals are one in the same to me. Seems to me once someone tried to explain the difference here, but all the hair splitting was completely lost on me.
Jarred
January 7th, 2010
The difference between “ethics” and “morals”? The first word is of Greek origin and the second one is of Latin origin. The philosophers that originally used them made it clear that the two words were dealing with the same concept.
There have been attempts to make a distinction between the two today, but I’ve never found any such attempts compelling. Heck, most dictionaries even tend to use the two words in each others’ definitions.
Joaquin Arroyo
January 7th, 2010
This man is obviously ignorant. There was male prostitution in the Middle East, Greece and Rome, sometimes in temples dedicated to the goddesses of love and fertility, often in commercial brothels. There was male prostitution in China: it horrified Father Matteo Ricci, who observed it in Peking in the 16th century. There were male brothels in London in the 19th century, and even in New York, as another comment rightly points out.
Johnson
January 7th, 2010
Uh, I don’t think I’ll be driving out to the middle of nowhere to do some guy in a trailer anytime soon. How ’bout the rest of you?
Jarred
January 7th, 2010
Johnson: I won’t, but someone might. You never know. Different strokes for different folks.
Ben in Oakland
January 7th, 2010
Male prostitution is quite legal in several of our european neighbors. It even used to be legal in Indonesia, though i’m not sure that is the case any more.
Nevada Blue
January 8th, 2010
Heidi Fleiss tried to do this a few years ago, and it would have been strictly for hetero sex, or so she said. I imagine she probably included couples in the concept of hetero though. Though she had legal and financial troubles from the get go, I believe it ultimately fell through because they felt there would not be enough money to be made from hetero women. That may have been true back then, though I think a lot more women would be willing to pay for sex now. But I think there will be more a demand for homosexual sex than people might assume.
Many of the peripheral ethical issues of prostitution are resolved by legalization and oversight of the industry. The same can be said of many things, like marijuana. There is nothing unethical about imbibing in marijuana, but buying it from the black market…? That promotes all sorts of unethical circumstances. I have a friend who is a priest and he has worked with prostitutes and other members of the “downtrodden,†in Nevada and all over the world. His peers were none too pleased when during a speech at a national convention he refused to talk about the sins and folly of legalized prostitution. He explained that having worked with legal and illegal prostitutes, there was no way he could pretend that making it illegal in NV would do anything but harm.
I believe in legal prostitution. I don’t see anything wrong with it, and I see how it can benefit society. I’ve spoken with many prostitutes; some of who do not want to deal with the inconveniences of legalization (yes, NV has plenty of illegal prostitutes too), and none of their experiences ever made me change my opinion. In fact, they’ve only reinforced it.
Bigjoe
January 22nd, 2010
Well, here in Brazil, male prostitution isn’t exacly legalized, but, like any prostitution, it isn’t illegal. The only reference to prostitution in the law is that you cannot “favor” prostitution, meaning, no pimps.
It’s a private matter, and if you meet somebody (of either sex) on the street or anyplace else (especially saunas for men only) and you decide to go someplace to have sex, you do. That’s it. And if one of these consenting adults pays the other consenting adult, that is of no interest to the law, the police, the government, etc. In this sense, all prostitution is legal, no sweat. But don’t mess with minors because you might spend some years in jail.
BigJoe
Leave A Comment