Las Vegas NowI-Team: Las Vegas Swingers
Las Vegas has a well-deserved reputation as an adult Disneyland. Sex has always been part of the allure, but locals who consider themselves swingers say the reputation is different from reality and that Las Vegas is a tough town for the sexually liberated.
Sex has always been a part of the Las Vegas image, and a lot of people visit here expecting to be gratified one way or another. By one estimate, there are approximately 6,000 locals who consider themselves swingers, and for them, pretty much anything goes.
The only limits they run into, the swingers say, are those imposed by governments.
"I just meet people I like and I don't like to say no," said Dave Cooper.
That pretty much sums up the philosophical underpinnings of Cooper's lifestyle choice. The gal on his left is his girlfriend Elaine, "When I met Elaine, she worked for a doctor and I just knew over a period of time -- I just knew. And I told my wife about her."
Dave's wife Virginia sits on his other side, "I can be with who I want to be with and he can be who he wants to be with. And it's not like, ‘Okay honey, let's go hunt for a couple and swap.'"
Las Vegas is a place that can challenge the strongest of relationships, which is how Elaine met Dave and Virginia.
"I worked around a lot of women and a lot of them were married or had relationships or some form of story about their spouse or boyfriend cheating on them. So when I heard about their lifestyle, I thought that's very interesting that they are open and honest with each other. They are still married and can have this fun lifestyle," she said.
Basically, they can't cheat on each other since there is no such thing. "There's no line that can't be crossed," said Dave.
Cooper owns a home with his wife and two kids, and another nearby with Elaine. They don't flaunt it in front of the kids, but don't lie about it either.
"They understand. They know who my girlfriend is, they know this is mom, they know we have two homes and they have rooms in each," said Dave.
Cooper turned a lifestyle into a business. He's owned swingers clubs in other states and figured Las Vegas would be a perfect fit. He and Virginia hosted so called Plush Parties in private homes for pre-screened couples.
The venture was successful but, compared to other cities, the Coopers think Las Vegas is sexually schizophrenic, "I think it's big everywhere, but it's a lot more underground here. Vegas, to me, the volume is louder. You hear about it a lot more, you see it commercially."
"Back when we started swinging, it was very taboo." On the other side of town, Mike Borchers provides a tour of the oldest swingers club in town, the Red Rooster, operating out of his sprawling home since the early 80's.
"This is our pool area. People get in here and this is where all the fun begins -- when people get their clothes off," he said.
The Red Rooster is world famous, almost an institution. Borchers hosts parties seven nights a week and estimates there are 3,000 swinger couples in Las Vegas -- hundreds more who visit each week.
"Every religion comes here. Every occupation -- doctors, lawyers, even judges, big judges but I wouldn't name them. A lot of lawyers come here, policemen, firemen," he said.
It's not a business he says, but it's not free. Borchers accepts donations at the door to cover expenses. For years, he's battled licensing authorities and has been cited for all sorts of things.
Borchers says his parties are no one's business and that the real targets should be commercial sex clubs that are fronts for prostitution.
Some of the most popular adult clubs are clustered in the Commercial Center, which is where Dave Cooper wanted to open a legal swingers club with no hookers. He calls it Sextasy and, unlike his competitors who've been licensed for years, was very open with officials about what would go on here.
He's been told he's not getting a license to open.
"We're being punished for not being a hypocrite, which is apparently the accepted way to do it," he said.
"Everybody isn't into this lifestyle, but everybody is doing what we're doing, only in another matter," said Borchers.
Both Dave Cooper and Mike Borchers say they have been treated unfairly by local governments, including the police.
