Goodman’s outcall bill taken off agenda

Diana Sahagun

Thursday, June 7, 2001 | 11:32 a.m.

Acting on advice from the city attorney Wednesday, the Las Vegas City Council held off on a bill that would have required escorts and outcall entertainers to get health cards and periodic medical exams.

The bill, sponsored by Mayor Oscar Goodman, could be reintroduced at a future date but was stricken from Wednesday's agenda.

According to a written opinion from City Attorney Brad Jerbic, the proposed bill violates constitutional rights and could put the mayor and council members at risk of being sued.

The proposed bill would require outcall entertainers and escorts to get a health card from the Clark County Health District and undergo annual medical exams to test for sexually transmitted diseases. Goodman introduced the bill after hearing that prostitutes in San Francisco were knowingly infecting their partners with the AIDS virus. He said he wanted to protect tourists who hire outcall entertainers or escorts.

Jerbic wrote that because the proposal requires the restrictions for a certain group of people, it discriminates and violates federal law.

Jerbic also said there is no rational relationship between the lawful performance of entertainment services and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.

The bill supposes that some outcall entertainers are, in fact, prostitutes and therefore actually perform a service that could lead to the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Because prostitution is illegal in the city, the proposal assumes that some entertainers are criminals.