CARSON CITY, Nev.—Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak announced Tuesday that his state will begin “Phase 2” of its “reopening” process after business shutdowns due to the coronavirus pandemic began in March. But even though casinos are slated to begin opening up again started June 4, adult entertainment establishments, including strip clubs and Nevada’s legalized brothels will have to keep waiting, leaving sex workers still struggling to earn income.
Sisolak has not announced any plans for when brothels and strip clubs will be permitted to reopen, even though brothel owners have offered detailed proposals for maintaining customer and worker safety.
In a letter to Governor’s Office of Economic Development Director Michael Brown, Lance Gilman — owner of the Mustang Ranch brothel located about 20 miles outside of Reno, Nevada — offered a number of measures that he said would allow brothels to reopen safely, including sex workers and brothel employees wearing gloves and masks at all times, while customers would be required to wear masks.
Perhaps most notably, Gilman proposed prohibiting physical contact between customers and sex workers, who would instead engage only in private conversation, meals or other non-contact entertainment.
But Brown nonetheless said that “there has been no decision on brothels,” and that the issue of when they could open remained “under review.”
Gilman told The Reno Gazette Journal that sex workers in the legal brothels already took extensive health precautions even prior to the coronavirus pandemic, saying that condoms and dental dams are used during normal brothel activities.
“Most ladies won’t kiss — the masks will actually help them,” Gilman told the paper. “It’s not a very hard leap to go from condoms and dental dams to wearing a mask ... We’ve been protecting against infectious diseases since we opened."
But other businesses involving close contact between workers and customers will be permitted to reopen in Phase 2, which gets underway Friday, May 29. Among the businesses that will start welcoming customers in Nevada will be hair salons, nail salons, and barbershops — albeit with safety requirements including face-mask requirements, distancing between customer chairs, and business conducted by appointment only with no walk-in service.
Bars and gyms may also reopen, but will be limited to 50 percent capacity, as will movie theaters under the same condition. Day spas, therapeutic massage services, and tattoo parlors may also reopen, though nightclubs and sports events with live audiences also remain on hold along with the state’s brothels and strip clubs.
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