Nevada's 'cancer is a fungus' lawmaker proposes castration for pimps

A Nevada Republican who believes cancer is a fungus proposed castration for sex traffickers.

State Rep. Michele Fiore (R-Las Vegas), who recently told a “colored” colleague that racism was over and suggested arming on campus, said removal of the male reproductive organs would be an appropriate punishment for pimps.

She proposed the penalty during discussion of a bill intended to help women escape the sex trade by requiring truck stops, fast-food restaurants, and other establishments to post a toll-free number where they can seek assistance.

"Instead of warm and fuzzy stickers and extended jail sentences why aren't you serious about the sex offenders these pimps, come with the castration bill, come with a bill that will stop people in their tracks," Fiore said. "You know it, like you want to get serious about stopping sex trafficking, so let's get a serious bill before us."

The lawmaker left soon after making her remarks but defended her proposal Monday during a TV panel.

“If you really want to get serious about stopping the pimps and stopping this horrific activity with sex trafficking our children, come to us, the legislators, with a bill for chemical castration or straight-up castration,” Fiore said.

Fiore said on “Nevada Newsmakers” that the penalty was consistent with her “sensible” support of “prisons without bars.”

“When we have these heinous crimes of rape and murder and sex trafficking of children, I have zero tolerance for it and I think the solution would be castration,” Fiore said.

Fiore, a strong supporter of scofflaw rancher Cliven Bundy’s efforts to limit federal control of public lands, told the program’s host that the threat of castration would be a strong deterrent.

"If you think if you are a man, I really seriously think that would take a big effect — when these pimps understand that it is going to cost them their most valued possession,” she said.

The program’s host, Sam Shad, asked if any other states imposed similar penalties.

"There was in New Orleans, and it got overturned,” Fiore said.

Louisiana’s Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal signed a bill authorizing judges to impose chemical castration on convicted sex offenders, although the sentence is rarely requested by prosecutors.