Providence mayor wants indoor prostitution banned
Published: September 1, 2009
PROVIDENCE—Providence Mayor David Cicilline has proposed a city ordinance banning indoor prostitution while state lawmakers debate bills criminalizing the indoor sex trade.
Rhode Island is the only state besides parts of Nevada where indoor prostitution is legal.
Brothels thinly disguised as spas and massage parlors operate openly in Cicilline’s city. Providence police cannot arrest those involved because of a 1980 legal loophole that permits indoor prostitution in Rhode Island.
Prostitutes and customers operating in the open can be prosecuted.
Under Cicilline’s proposal, prostitutes, pimps and customers would face 30 days in prison and a $500 fine. Those penalties are the maximum allowed under city law.
State lawmakers passed conflicting bills this year trying to outlaw indoor prostitution but haven’t reached a compromise.
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Reader Reactions
Check out Happy Endings? a documentary film on Asian massage parlors in Rhode Island where prostitution is legal.
http://www.happyendingsdoc.com
You should actually see and hear from the women you are trying to throw in prison before you make such bad laws.
As an owner of a Medical Spa I am happy to hear that the term “spa” and “massage” will be turned back into the professional term they were originated as.
If prostitutes want to operate in the state of RI and it is legal to exchange money for services call it what it is BROTHALS just like
Nevada and get the people involved licensed, make them pay taxes, and
checked for diseases as they do in Nevada. Diseased people have their licenses suspended until cured!
As far as the other comment concerning “gay baths and night clubs” that is NOT a prostitution business.
Sex between concenting adults without money exchanging is not a crime.
Prostitution needs strong regulation
in order to make our businesses legitimate and professional again!
I wonder if this ordinance will be enforced in strip clubs and gay establishments where sex is on display behind closed doors and orgies are prevalent in gay bath houses?? Doubt it
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