Reid: Time to Outlaw Prostitution in Nevada, Make Way for New Business

Sen. Harry Reid D-NV called on state legislators to ban prostitution in Nevada on Wednesday.

If we want to attract business to Nevada that puts people back to work, the time has come for us to outlaw prostitution, Reid told a joint session of the state's legislature where his speech focused on making the state competitive for jobs.

Reid said he wanted to have an adult conversation about an adult subject.

Nevada needs to be known as the first place for innovation and investment - not as the last place where prostitution is still legal. When the nation thinks about Nevada, it should think about the world's newest ideas and newest careers - not about its oldest profession, he said.

Reid said he recently met with a group of businessmen in northwestern Nevada's Storey County, just outside Reno. The group was interested in building a data center facility.

But one of the businessmen in that meeting told me he simply couldn't believe that one of the biggest businesses in the county he was considering for his new home is legal prostitution, Reid said.

Reid said that he had spoken with families who felt the same way - parents who don't want their children to look out of a school bus and see a brothel - or to live in a state with the wrong kind of red lights.