Candidate to campaign for prostitution law reform

Candidate to campaign for prostitution law reform

By Philippa Stanford

ADELAIDE — Speculation that brothel owner Stormy Summers will run for the position of lord mayor of Adelaide in the May council election has sparked enormous controversy.

Summers has not formally announced her candidature, but she has encouraged the publicity by releasing the policies she would campaign on. These have included prostitution law reform, the establishment of a 24-hour drug rehabilitation centre in the city, more accommodation for the homeless and improvements to run-down residential areas. She has also spoken out against the use of the city's parklands by Adelaide's elite for their horses.

Some commentators have tried to discredit Summers by focusing on her personal life. She was once a stripper and travelled to Vietnam to entertain troops during the Vietnam War, before becoming a brothel owner in Adelaide.

Others, such as Samela Harris from Adelaide's only daily newspaper the Advertiser, have proclaimed Summers a crusader: "The woman is a blessing — proudly defying the law to fight for the law, doggedly running an illegal business like a legal business and paying her taxes as a matter of principle."

From GLW issue 391