PETITION'S GOAL AND PURPOSE: 

My purpose in creating this petition is to sway residents and non-residents of Utah to come together and respectfully demand that Governor Gay Herbert call a special legislative session to amend the brothel laws of the Utah Code and make brothels legal. Not allowing brothels violates my (and many others) constitutional rights, namely: 1st amendment, 9th amendment, 14th amendment rights and also the rights granted by the Utah Constitution including the rights of a free market. I have drafted a nearly 50 page legal pleading to challenge these laws (based on harm that has happened to me as explained below), but I realize that the Courts hate acting like a legislative body. So to make a legal challenge a last resort, I hope to work with the legislature. With this petition, I hope that the Governor can see that there is a need for regulated prostitution as brothels have been proven to control STDs and protect adults who choose to engage in it and also helps stop human trafficking. Also, it would bring in income for the State. These are all goals and objectives that the State of Utah shares and therefore with enough signatures, I hope to sit down with the Governor and convince him to call together a special legislative session and immediately legalize brothels. Street and in-door prostitution, and unlicensed brothels would still be crimes.

I feel it would be helpful to give more information about the case and myself.

TRAPPED IN A DEFORMED BODY

Visualize with me for a moment and visualize not being able to close your mouth since birth due to a facial paralysis. And because of this disability, it is hard to eat, drink, talk, and not be respected. Further imagine, that everywhere you go, you are stared and laughed at. It's a difficult feeling. When you have nothing and you try and try to get a partner, just having something means everything -- even if it means paying for it. As a "john", soliciting prostitutes has saved my life in that it has stopped me from killing myself when all hope was gone and has made me feel important. It's not even the sex I pay for per se -- it's being able to lie with somebody in bed and have them listen to me; for me to be intimate with them and to release my stress and anxiety. I see this as more than a business relationship even though it may be one. It means everything to me and I want to share these feelings with others in the form of a legal house of prostitution.

TRYING TO START A LEGAL BROTHEL -- AND FAILING

In December 2015, I registered a brothel, which I named The Mile High Neon, with the Utah Business Registration using an online form. I had written a comprehensive business plan that resembled the successful Nevada brothel model and drafted proposed laws to make my brothel legal. If approved and given a brothel license, I would have gone to the legislature and convinced them to make it legal. After paying a fee and waiting for the approval to pend, my business registration was approved with the State. I was then given documents to fill and file with the City of Salt Lake. As I finished filling out the paperwork for the brothel, I was sent a letter from the Department of Commerce, Division of Corporations and Commercial Code, telling me that my business registration was cancelled. This caused me emotional distress and "threw a wrench" in my plans as I truly want to help people in prostitution not just engage in it safely without arrest, but to also help the women in it by empowering them and letting them know prostitution should be a stepping stone to a better life -- not a lifelong career. I was raised in a pretty conservative, religious home and I don't view the adult entertainment industry the same as others do. I have created a business plan that would expedite the prostitution process and get women the money they need and get them working in non-sexual jobs. 

NEVADA CREATES AN UNDUE BURDEN

Many people say that if you want to engage in it, you should go to Nevada. Unfortunately, this is a very hard choice for those to make who do not have cars, etc. The Amtrak train only leaves in the early morning as do the Greyhound Buses. Airline travel has become ridiculously expensive. Also, many of the brothels have expected prices for the girls to ask of clients -- prices that can be two thousand dollars for an hour! That is too much for the average Joe and thus the travel becomes more than the time spent in the brothel and Nevada altogether. In addition, smoking is allowed in the brothels and causes a health risk to the non-smoker. All of these things create an undue burden to travel to the Nevada brothels. 

HARM SUFFERED

In addition to undue burdens, not allowing brothels robs one of their freedom to create an association as found in the first amendment. It's legal to believe in legalization, but what's the point of a belief if you can't put it into practice? 

It is also a violation of equal protection to allow some forms of adult entertainment (like strip clubs, escort services, the viewing of porn), but not others. In fact, not only is it hypocritical, it is dangerous because time and time again strip clubs have proven to have had cases of prostitution happening and it can lead to unsafe sex practices and arrest. With other sexually oriented businesses allowed, prostitution is natural to occur. A study back in 2009, conducted by Princeton University, found that when men viewed women in bikinis, they saw them as objects and had sexual desires and impulses. (http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/02/19/women.bikinis.objects/ It is hypocritical to say that allowing a woman to dance naked is OK, but to allow her to engage in what every strip club patron is thinking is illegal is a dangerous and flawed way of thinking and doing business. If prostitution is truly evil then we need to get rid of all adult entertainment that fuels it -- kind of what Iceland did. Since City of Erie v. Paps A.M. (2000) ruled that stripping is protected by the first amendment, it can't be abolished. The logical next step then would be to regulate prostitution which stems from strip clubs. Escorting, by the way, which is legal, becomes illegal once sex and money becomes involved. Many people hold the misconception that escorts can legally have sex which is false yet it occurs daily with no arrests because they call themselves escorts and don't discuss sex talk. They let the sex "happen" which is again hypocritical.

It also robs the disabled of equal protection. It was ruled in Lawrence v. Texas (2003) that the majority could not ban conduct it deemed immoral and it could not control the "destinies" of a minority (referring to the LGBT) thus legalizing non-commercial sex. Realizing that the disabled cannot find partners as easily as normal people can, it robs the disabled of equal protection as normal people are basically committing prostitution with dinners and dating with sex expected, but when money is involved with sex may or may not happening nor discussed it suddenly becomes a crime. It is a violation of equal protection.

WHY BROTHELS?

Isn't it much easier to find a girl on an escort site online and pay her to come to your home or hotel? While it is, the risks of robbery and rape are a constant worry in the illegal prostitution business. Most importantly, illegal prostitutes don't have certificates verifying that they are clean from HIV. With it being legal, the sex workers would be STD tested weekly. The brothels, if legal, would be able to provide safety to both the client and the sex worker where you know exactly what you're paying for with whom and not have to worry about problems that plague illegal business practices. 

The brothel I seek to start would also empower the sex worker with weekly reports, training, no smoking or drinking, and let the girls set goals and have access to counseling if they feel troubled and have access to talent agents who would place them in non-sexual jobs since a main reason women enter prostitution is for the money.

Knowing that conservative states like Utah are fearful of prostitution, brothels would be on the city outter-limits to not offend the morals of the community or create a nuisance. It would create a perfect balance between State Interest and Protection to those who engage in it. 

I NEED YOUR HELP

Please sign the petition so that I can convince Governor Herbert to sit down with me to discuss having a special legislative session to legalize brothels. What we do now, can help future generations to come. My business model could be adopted in other States as well as I believe I offer a unique model that shows I care about the sex worker well-being and not money per se.