Originally Published at World Magazine
By Mary Jackson
Now, one of Rashid’s victims, Angela Williams, is a plaintiff in a sweeping federal lawsuit against state and local authorities, a legal brothel, Rashid, and other businesses associated with him. A national advocacy group and a Nevada lawyer filed the lawsuit last week in an attempt to abolish the nation’s only legalized brothels, which they claim enable sex traffickers such as Rashid to operate with impunity in the state.
The case, brought by the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) and Reno-based attorney Jason Guinasso, argues the state’s legal prostitution system is unconstitutional and violates federal anti-trafficking laws. The legal battle is part of an intensifying nationwide clash over prostitution, which some state lawmakers seek to decriminalize.
“When prostitution is legally protected, there is always an increase in the demand, and thus the supply must increase somehow,” said NCOSE senior legal counsel Christen Price. “The way the difference is made up is by sex trafficking victims.”
