PAHRUMP, Nev. (AP) A state marketed as a place where people can indulge in all manner of sins is confronting its status as the only place in America where you can legally pay someone for sex.
A coalition of religious groups and anti-sex trafficking activists has launched referendums to ban brothels in two of the seven Nevada counties where theyre legally operating. The push to outlaw the industry dovetails with a campaign by the states most famous pimp for a seat in the state Legislature.
Nevada, according to brothel owner Dennis Hof, was built on gaming, liquor, girls and mining.
But theres a shift occurring, said Jason Guinasso, a Reno-based attorney involved with the effort to get the anti-brothel measures on the November ballot.
Hof, who has half a dozen brothels operating in the two counties and starred in the HBO adult reality series Cathouse, is challenging incumbent Assembly member James Oscarson of Pahrump in a Republican primary on Tuesday.
