LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A Nevada sex worker is preparing to file a lawsuit against Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak alleging his COVID-19 non-essential business closure order is violating her rights and ability to make a living.
In Nevada, nearly every business and industry has been allowed to reopen except for those selling legal sex.
Alice Little, a legal sex worker at the world-famous Moonlight Bunny Ranch outside of Nevada's capital of Carson City, is preparing to sue the governor in an effort to go back to work.
"We do things legally, we pay our taxes, we have all of our licenses, it's time to open up the brothels," said Little, in an interview with 13 Investigates.
Little brought in as much as $1.2 million in sex sales in 2019.
But since March 2020, the beds at the ranch have been empty.
The shutdown order outlined by Gov. Sisolak in March forced for the closure of 'non-essential businesses'
Since then, a flurry of new directives have allowed many sectors of the economy to reopen but the closure order on brothels was never lifted.
RELATED: Sex worker at Nevada brothel files lawsuit against Gov. Sisolak
Little says despite attempts to offer proposals for brothel reopening, the governor's office has remained silent.
"I am incredibly frustrated at the fact that it seems as if the governor decided to pick and choose which businesses will be permitted to open, regardless if they are of a similar contact level that we would be at the legal brothels," explained Little.
The court paperwork obtained by 13 Investigates notes businesses such as massage parlors, hair salons, tattoo shops, nail salons, even dentistry have been allowed to reopen.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE COMPLAINT
The documents allege Little's civil rights are being harmed as well as her ability to make money.
Little adds she does not qualify for government assistance.
"Not only do I not qualify for assistance, under the CARES act, but all of the intimate businesses were also excluded from [Paycheck Protection Program] as well as [Small Business Administration] options that were made available to other legal enterprises," explained Little.
Little believes Nevada's approximately 20 brothels, which are legal in counties with populations under 700,000 people, can safely reopen, despite pleas from public officials to keep social distancing, avoid handshaking, and practice good hygiene.
13 Investigates reached out to the governor's office for a response but a spokesperson says they do not comment on pending litigation.
Other adult entertainment businesses, like strip clubs, have also been impacted.
The world-famous DeJa Vu, released a statement regarding the situation to 13 Investigates:
Adult nightclubs in Las Vegas were forcibly closed since March 21st. In doing so, hundreds of hard-working women that society and government has already marginalized were left without work, losing the ability to provide for themselves and their children. This is a travesty because adult clubs provide many women with a streamlined route out of poverty and into a better life with an education, stability, and freedom, all the while generating millions of dollars in tax revenue.
The Governor has issued a puzzling dictatorial decree that watching live adult entertainment from socially-distanced seating is somehow more dangerous than watching a live musician from the same distance in the same conditions. While I am aware that my career as a pornographer does not give me expansive knowledge of science, I am rather confident that the sheer visibility of a nipple from ten feet away does not increase one’s chances of catching COVID-19. In reality, this is simply a result of the Governor's internalized misogyny that amounts to an illegal suppression of constitutionally-protected free speech.
I hope that, for the sake of the thousands of hard-working Nevadan women who rely on exotic dancing for a living that the Governor can see through his hypocrisy and misogyny and reverse course.
