Strip Club News

After failing to garner enough signatures to petition a statewide vote on new strip club restrictions, Ohio adult entertainment business owners have now taken their battle court.

The new law that was passed earlier this year and went into effect last month forces strip clubs to close at midnight and enacts harsh new penalties for innocuous contact between patrons and dancers.

A coalition of adult entertainment businesses has asked US District Judge Solomon Oliver Jr. to throw out the new law on the basis that it unconstitutionally restricts free expression and is too vague.

Originally, the coalition of business owners tried to force a statewide vote by collecting enough petition signatures, but fell short by 60,000 despite spending a reported $1.5 million on the campaign.

Opponents of adult entertainment businesses argue that gentlemen’s clubs increase crime, lower property values, degrade women, cause child molestation, and generally contribute to the destruction of society. All that from a naked woman…simply amazing.

We wish Ohio strip club owners and the patrons who enjoy those fine gentlemen’s clubs the best of luck in their battle against this egregious infringement of civil rights.

The drive to gather enough signatures to force a statewide vote to repeal new strip club restrictions in Ohio has failed, falling 60,000 signatures short despite a reported $1.5 million in expenditures by the coalition behind the effort.

The new law enacts severe penalties for touching of nude or semi-nude dancers, prohibits dancers from touching each other, and forces a halt to nude entertainment at midnight, which will severely harm the income generating ability of clubs and dancers.

Strip club owners and owners of other adult oriented establishments have banded together to file a federal lawsuit on constitutionality grounds and another lawsuit was filed challenging Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner’s handling of the referendum petition.

A federal judge denied a request on 10/18/2007 to grant a temporary restraining order to an association of club owners. US District Judge Solomon Oliver Jr. scheduled a hearing on November 16th on the club owners’ request for a preliminary injunction.

As of now, the law has taken effect and clubs are complying. Lap dances will not be what they used to be in Ohio.

Despite spending $1.5 million dollars in an effort to collect enough signatures to force a statewide vote to repeal punitive new strip club restrictions, an Ohio coalition of adult entertainment businesses has failed.

Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner said that the coalition known as the Vote No On Issue 1 Committee was not able to gather enough signatures from at least 44 of the 88 counties in Ohio necessary to get the initiative to repeal new strip club restrictions on the November ballot.

The new restrictions impose heavy penalties on the most innocuous touching and require adult entertainment businesses to close at midnight—which is when many of them start getting busy. These restrictions serve no public safety purpose; they are nothing more than a way to circumvent existing court rulings and punish adult entertainment by making it more difficult to do business.

The only thing that will stop this law from taking effect now is a judge issuing a temporary order while the coalition makes its appeals in the court system.

This is only the beginning. This victory for the bible thumpers will only embolden them to pressure spineless lawmakers into even tighter restrictions or an all-out ban on any nudity whatsoever, which is their true goal. Succeeding at forcing clubs to close at midnight isn’t going to satisfy these peoples’ cravings for power. They are hellbent on robbing citizens of their freedoms by imposing their morality on them via the legislative process and very few lawmakers on either the Democratic or Republican side are stepping up to preserve the freedoms of citizens.

It’s a shame that America is moving backwards because of a small, vocal group of messed up people.

Perhaps the people at Citizens for Community Values, the group that pushed for these new restrictions, should focus their attention on pedophile priests and child abusers in the church instead of on the recreational activities of consenting adults.

An additional 230,000 petition signatures were submitted by a coalition just before the final deadline to put an initiative on the November ballot to repeal the state’s new restrictions on strip clubs.

In September, 382,500 signatures were submitted, but two-thirds of them were ruled invalid. The coalition had an additional 10 days to get enough valid signatures to total 241,366 in order to force a statewide vote on the issue. The latest signatures will be reviewed for validity.

The new law forces strip clubs to close at midnight and increases penalties for touching dancers.

A coalition of strip club activists fighting to repeal a new Ohio law that prohibits clubs from offering nude entertainment from midnight to 6 AM and increases penalties for illegal touching was dealt a severe blow when two-thirds of their petition signatures were ruled invalid.

Of the 382,500 signatures submitted on the petitions, only 125,400 were ruled valid. The coalition has only ten days to get an additional 116,000 valid signatures to force the issue to be placed before the voters on the statewide November ballot.

In addition to the arbitrary hours of operation limitation, the law sets a maximum penalty of 30 days in jail and a $250 fine if patrons physically touch nude or semi-nude performers. If a patron touches certain areas like the breast or genitals, the penalty is a maximum of six months in prison and a $1,000 fine.

One must wonder what harm to society can occur as a result of a person appearing nude before consenting adults after midnight. Is this law intended to protect society or harm the ability of strip clubs to do business and dancer income potential? The answer is obviously the latter.

This is just another example of the enemies of strip clubs running roughshod over the citizens’ court-affirmed constitutional rights.

Work is underway on a new gentlemen’s cabaret in Austintown, OH. Go Go Girls Cabaret is expected to open in about two months. According to news reports, the club will feature “live, exotic striptease dancing”.

The club will be located at 5455 Clarkins Drive, near the I-80 and State Route 46 interchange.

A coalition of Ohio strip club owners and dancers has temporarily halted the implementation of new rules prohibiting touching and forcing sexually oriented businesses to close at midnight. The new regulations were slated to go into effect today. If the signatures are valid—over 382,000 of them—the issue will be put on a statewide ballot this November.

Ohio gentlemen’s club owners and dancers are planning to present the Secretary of State with petitions containing roughly 400,000 signatures to force a statewide vote on oppressive restrictions passed earlier this year.

In April of 2007, a law was enacted to require all sexually oriented business to close at midnight. As part of this law, all nude or semi-nude dancers would be required to remain at least six feet away from patrons at any time. If this initiative makes it on the ballot, the regulations won’t go into effect until after the vote in November, instead of this coming week as scheduled.

Considering that many strip clubs don’t get busy until close to midnight, these regulations could significantly harm the income of club owners and dancers.

The Ohio Statute