Prostitution is illegal in Virginia, but you would never know it from the goings-on in Fairfax County.
More than 80 illicit massage parlors operate “in plain sight” in this county right outside Washington, D.C., according to one county supervisor.
Why is prostitution rampant in Fairfax County?
For a clue, check out the tale of the Falls Church brothel, which also tells a much bigger story that reflects on far more than prostitution in Virginia: All over the country, progressive prosecutors, many funded by George Soros, are effectively rewriting all sorts of criminal laws, substituting their own ideology for the rule of law and the will of the people.
They are at once a threat to public safety and enemies of democracy.
The Falls Church brothel is not a massage parlor in which some clients happen to get extra services. At this writing, the “spa” doesn’t even have a massage license — and it never has. The business’s website, advertisements, and online reviews make it very clear that what it sells is sex. Specifically, women from China have sex with men for about $150 in cash on top of a $70 “house fee.”
In all likelihood, this business is breaking tax law and immigration law, if not also engaging in human trafficking. We don’t know for sure because the Fairfax County police tell neighbors, “Our hands are tied.”
The man tying the hands is, it seems, the county prosecutor: Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano. Descano is a Soros-funded, self-described “progressive prosecutor.” Police haven’t tried to build a felony case against the Falls Church brothel because they know Descano’s office won’t prosecute it. Instead, they tagged the prosecutor with criminal misdemeanor charges: One for lacking a massage license and another for keeping “a bawdy place” — basically allowing prostitution within the business.
While Descano has left many misdemeanor prosecutions up to the police, he deployed a deputy prosecutor to the courthouse for the brothel case, and she dropped the prostitution-related charge.
You now see how about 80 illicit massage parlors, in the estimate of county supervisor Pat Herrity, operate “in plain sight” in the county: Steve Descano has legalized prostitution in Fairfax County.
Descano hasn’t announced this. He didn’t run on legalizing whorehouses. But Soros-funded nonprofit groups have lobbied to legalize prostitution in the name of female bodily autonomy and a broader campaign of decriminalizing all consensual activity. Also, Descano has instructed his prosecutors to avoid, whenever possible, cases that could result in the lawbreaker’s deportation.
There is a policy debate we could have on prostitution. Some states and countries have legalized it. The argument is that two adults should be able to set whatever price they want on their consensual sex. Advocates say that if prostitution is legal and regulated, some of the dangers of the business, including the trafficking of women, will disappear.
If Steve Descano, George Soros, and Virginia Democrats want to legalize prostitution, they should do so openly through the democratic process. They should run for office on a platform of legalizing brothels. They should push legislation repealing the current state laws and proposing their own regulations of “sex work,” as the progressive Democrats call it these days.
Gubernatorial nominee Abigail Spanberger should answer whether she wants Virginia to be a prostitution hub.
What Democrats and Soros-funded politicians are doing today is nothing like that. They are using their prosecutorial discretion to rewrite the law. Descano has been very open about this.
Criminals are not the real threat, Descano has written in a New York Times op-ed. “The real threat,” he wrote, “may stem from those who write the law.”
Descano promised that he would flout Virginia law if he disagreed with it. “No matter what the law in Virginia says, I will not prosecute a woman for having an abortion or for being suspected of inducing one.”
This is an abuse of power and an attack on democracy. It’s also typical of Soros prosecutors. Soros spent his wealth funding prosecutors across the country because that was cheaper than the legitimate process of rewriting the law. Just get enough scofflaw prosecutors in place, and it doesn’t matter what the legislatures say.
Our commentary page has inveighed frequently against President Donald Trump’s refusal to enforce the law requiring the sale of TikTok. Legislatures make the law, both nationally and in the states. Presidents and prosecutors are supposed to follow the law.
Grown-up Democrats, starting with Spanberger, and Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) should call out Descano and his ilk as enemies of democracy. And then they should shut down the whorehouses.