This cracks me up:
Under current (Rhode Island) state law, prostitution is legal in Rhode Island as long as it takes place indoors. Only streetwalkers, their pimps and the customers flagging them down can be charged.
[….]University of Rhode Island women’s studies Prof. Donna M. Hughes said that if prostitution remains legal indoors, “Rhode Island will soon be the sex industry capital of the United States.”
[….]“It’s really a travesty it’s allowed indoors,” state police Lt. Col. Steven G. O’Donnell said. “Make no mistake about it, people take advantage of that, including the strip clubs.” And some spas and massage parlors are brothels, he said. The “loophole” in state law “puts a stamp of legitimacy” on groups of people we don’t want joining our economy, he said.
If you’re at all familiar with Rhode Island government, this doesn’t surprise you at all. One mayor of Providence was put back into office by the voters after pleading no contest to having tortured a man he thought was his wife’s lover (yes, he was a Republican).
Update: I don’t know whether this is a good thing or not, but I bet that it’s a result of strip club owners having paid somebody off. That’s all I mean about Rhode Island government.