Tampa strip clubs face further repression

From AVN see full article

A federal judge has ruled that three stringent Hillsborough County ordinances governing adult businesses are legal.

According to a recent report, if the judge’s ruling stands, dancers at Tampa strip clubs will have to stay six feet away from patrons, and the selling or drinking of alcohol would be prohibited at adult businesses. In addition, workers at adult video stores would have to pass background checks and private viewing booths would be completely prohibited.

There is no question from a reading of the three ordinances that they do not constitute a ban on sexually oriented businesses, but rather regulations on time, place and manner, U.S. Judge Richard A. Lazzara wrote in his ruling.

Lazzara’s ruling comes after area adult businesses sued the city, calling the new rules — which were adopted in Sept. of 2006 — unconstitutional. Those businesses plan to appeal the ruling, according to Luke Lirot, a First Amendment attorney representing the three Tampa bikini bars that the ordinance would effect.

According to the report, Lirot said he doesn't expect county officials to start enforcing the ordinances until after all legal challenges are exhausted. He said he found Lazzara’s ruling repugnant to the First Amendment.

 
Penthouse to get into US hardcore cable and satellite TV

From Variety see full article

Penthouse is getting into the US adult-TV business, signing a 10-year, $10 million deal with New Frontier to create a 24/7 network and a video-on-demand service.

New Frontier, which runs seven adult nets under the TEN trademark (which stands for The Erotic Networks), distributes triple-X programming on cable and satellite TV.

Penthouse will begin with the VOD pay-per-view service because it's easier to get cable operators to make room for it than for a 24/7 network.

Despite the hardcore sex, cable ops and satcasters are willing to take some or all of New Frontier's networks because the revenue split is so favorable. Instead of 50-50 for a typical mainstream PPV movie, the cable op can get 80% or more of each subscriber dollar reflecting the relatively small cost of the programming.

New Frontier said that the suggested retail price for one PPV erotic movie is $10.99.

 
Florida cub to fight repressive ordinance

From X Biz see full article

Attorneys for Lollipops Gentlemen’s Club in Daytona Beach said that they are prepared to take their challenge to the city’s anti-nudity ordinance to the U.S. Supreme Court.

We’ve already prepared a jurisdictional brief for the U.S. Supreme Court, said Brett Hartley, an attorney for Lollipops. Representatives of the city said they are ready to make their case in front of the nation’s highest court, as well.

Earlier in the case, a district court struck down the city’s anti-nudity ordinance, holding that the ordinance did not further the substantial government interest in reducing negative secondary effects associated with adult theaters. A panel of judges from the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals later overturned the lower court’s ruling, and earlier this week the 11th Circuit denied Lollipops’ request for a rehearing in front of the full court.

As the legal battle moves on to its next step, Daytona Beach Police Chief Mike Chitwood said his department is prepared to begin enforcement of the city’s anti-nudity ordinance, and soon will send out a letter to local clubs warning them that enforcement is about to begin.

Under the ordinance, dancers at any club that sells alcohol — or who work at a club that is located within 500 feet of another business that sells alcohol — must wear modest bikinis at a minimum and cannot perform topless or nude.

Regardless of how the courts eventually rule in the case, Hartley said he found the city’s secondary effects arguments less than persuasive.

The notion that the proximity of a naked breast to an alcoholic drink is somehow going to cause crime is just retarded, Hartley said.

 
Hassling adult industry via 2257 record keeping law

From AVN see full article
See also Free Speech Coalition

The Free Speech Coalition has released a three-pronged strategy for challenging the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) proposed 2257 rules and regulations.

The FSC has submitted its own 32-page comment, drafted by First Amendment attorneys pointing out the flaws of the regulations, its logistical impossibilities, and constitutional violations as well as offering a viable record keeping alternative to the proposed regulations. This document can also be found at www.freespeechcoalition.com in the 2257 page.

The FSC also launched a public comment campaign, suggesting that adult businesses and professionals participate in one of three ways:

1. FSC offered to review comments sent to them by industry professionals, or revise their comments so that the document is ready for submission and send it back to the person and/or business with instructions on how to submit the document.
2. FSC compiled an industry statement to which adult industry businesses and professionals could add their name or the name of their business.
3. FSC provided information and support materials for industry businesses and professionals to submit their own statement.

“We have challenged the Department of Justice from all angles,” said Diane Duke, FSC Executive Director. The DOJ will have to address the issues brought to light from the economic report and the concerns raised by FSC. We can’t allow the DOJ to use its authority to harass and abuse the adult entertainment industry. We are going to hold their feet to the fire every step of the way.

If the DOJ’s final rules and regulations do not change substantially, Duke said the FSC is prepared to file an injunction immediately after the DOJ’s response is released and again fight the battle in court.

 
Las Vegas allows brothel adverts

From Las Vegas Now see full article

Advertising in Las Vegas started a new era on Friday. For the first time ever, a legalized brothel bought a moving billboard to drive around Las Vegas. The world famous and historic Chicken Ranch became the first brothel to advertise.

Two state laws had previously banned brothels from advertising anywhere. On July 12, a federal judge overturned those laws, saying they were "overly broad," clearing the way for this.

The Chicken Ranch Brothel in Pahrump paid for the moving billboard. The Chicken Ranch billboard may actually seem tame for Las Vegas standards. There are no girls anywhere on it -- although it does offer free transportation. Ads pushing Las Vegas shows reveal much more.

A spokesman for the Chicken Ranch says the brothel wants the advertisements to be done with taste and discretion. Meredith says it hit the mark.

State law allows counties in Nevada to have legal brothels if the population is under 400,000 people. That means prostitution is not legal in Clark County and Washoe County. The closest brothels to Las Vegas are 60 miles to the west in Pahrump in Nye County.

 
Michigan court injunction temporarily allows alcohol & nudity to mix

From DetNews.com see full article

Strip club owners were reacting cautiously to a federal appeals court ruling that temporarily halts enforcement of the state's ban on fully nude dancing in places where alcohol is served.

The U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered that an Inkster strip club, Bogarts Lounge, should be granted a preliminary injunction preventing the state from bringing charges against it for having fully nude dancing and serving alcohol.

The appeals court sent the case back to U.S. District Judge Julian Abele Cook Jr. in Detroit for further proceedings. The ban on fully nude dancing in places where alcohol is served could still be valid, but only if the state gives better reasons for such a ban, the court said.

Strip club owners in the Detroit area have long been at a competitive disadvantage with those across the border in Windsor, where fully nude dancing is permitted.

The 6th Circuit said the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled nude dancing is expressive conduct protected by the First Amendment.

Therefore, the state must show its ban is necessary to serve a compelling state interest, which it has yet to do, the court said.

 
Abstinence programmes don't stop HIV

From New Scientist see full article
See also article in BMJ

Do programmes that promote sexual abstinence help cut HIV rates? The question matters, because the US government says they do and directs its funding accordingly.

But when Kristen Underhill's team at the University of Oxford, UK, examined the literature, they found that almost all the evidence suggests not.

They studied 13 trials of US-based abstinence programmes and found that none helped to reduce the incidence of unprotected sex or cut the number of partners that young people slept with. A similar lack of success has already been found in abstinence projects in developing countries.

The paper is the second knock to US HIV/AIDS policy in recent weeks. The government also requires that the organisations it funds sign a pledge saying they oppose prostitution. HIV/AIDS organisations say this means they stigmatise groups they are meant to be helping and point towards a recent review which found that HIV programmes that target sex workers are effective in cutting infection rates

 
The return of the legendary Mustang Ranch brothel

From The Independent see full article

The Mustang Ranch has survived being sold on eBay for the price of a small home.

Lance Gilman bought the Mustang for $145,100 (Ł73,000) on eBay, and spent $6m to move the 12 gaudy pink stucco buildings four miles and refurbish them.

With Mr Gilman's money and new madam Susan Austin's eye for decor, the place is now back to its former seedy glory. She said: We have turned it into one of the state's most luxurious brothels.

 
Failure to get refund on unconstitutional tax

From Forbes see full article

The Nevada Tax Commission rejected arguments that a state entertainment tax unconstitutionally targets strip clubs and refused to refund nearly $1.8 million in such taxes collected from six Las Vegas clubs in early 2004.

Attorneys for the strip clubs appealed the imposition of the 10% entertainment tax on admissions, drinks and food, arguing that strippers' dancing is a form of constitutionally protected freedom of expression that should be tax-exempt.

The clubs' appeal, rejected on a unanimous commission vote, was filed after the state Taxation Department denied the requested refund of January-April 2004 taxes on grounds the dancing fit the definition of taxable entertainment.

Attorney Brad Shafer, representing the clubs, argued that commissioners could bury your head in the sand all you want, but it's clear that the tax is invalid because it discriminates among types of live entertainment.

This was to get the adult cabarets and everything else was exempted out, Shafer added, noting the state law has more than two dozen exemptions.

Attorneys Dennis Belcourt and David Pope, representing the Taxation Department called the levy "content-neutral," and said that of the more than 50 non-casino businesses and enterprises subject to the tax, only 11 were strip clubs. However, Shafer said the strip clubs accounted for most of the non-casino entertainment tax revenue.

 
Oakland to repeal car seizure legislation

From KCBS see full article

The State Supreme Court has struck down local laws allowing cops to seize vehicles used for drug dealing or prostitution, affecting communities across California. The court ruled 4-3 that cities can’t pass seizure ordinances without authorization from the state legislature.

Oakland was the first California city to pass a vehicle forfeiture law. Under the ordinance, police officers could seize any car that was being driven by a suspect accused of being involved in illegal drugs or prostitution without a hearing, according to Oakland City Attorney John Russo.

The Supreme Court has ruled, and that is the final word, so we will be back to the City Council in September, said Russo. We will ask them to repeal that ordinance.

 
Governor ready to end legal brothels

From Nevada Appeal see full article

Governor Jim Gibbons said that Nevada has outgrown legal prostitution and that, if a bill banning the business crossed his desk, he’d sign it.

Gibbons made the comments in an interview after he addressed the Nevada Hotel and Lodging Association luncheon at Reno’s Grand Sierra hotel when asked whether he agreed with the recent court ruling which said it is unconstitutional to deny brothels the right to advertise.

I’m one of those who doesn’t support the industry but I understand the First Amendment issue, he told reporters in the hallway. I don’t think you can deny a legal business the right to advertise.

He said even his mother believed legal prostitution had a place in Nevada because it was better to have them regulated, controlled and tested (for disease) than walking the streets of Reno.

That’s an historical perspective but over the last half-century, we’ve matured, he said. Referencing the association he just finished speaking to, he said, I don’t see legal prostitution as part of the tourism base in Nevada.

 
Changes to US record keeping law

From AVN see full article
See also XXX Law

As First Amendment attorney J.D. Obenberger sees it, there are "two huge things and one minor thing" about the U.S. Department of Justice's proposed changes to the §2257 record-keeping law.

The first "huge thing" – and this is the most significant change in the regulations: The date for the records finally has been anchored to the date of production (or date the actual photography was accomplished). This actually gives the justice department a credible reason for [the recordkeeping law and associated regulations] to exist, because the date of actual photography is the only one that's important in determining whether participants were minors at the time the images were committed to film.

The second major aspect of the regulation amendments, Obenberger said, involves where the compliance statement must reside on websites. Previously, a link to the compliance statement on the homepage was considered sufficient, but the new regulations mandate the entire compliance statement must appear on every page within a website.

This is a very literalistic reading of the Adam Walsh Law, and creates quite a burden for webmasters, Obenberger opined.

He also worried aloud it may chase out of the industry small, independent website operators who run their businesses from their homes and maintain their records in their home offices. None of those people are going to want everyone on the Web to be able to find them with no more effort than scrolling to the bottom of a Web page.

The minor thing: The new regulations specify that hard copies of the identification documents must be maintained.

The whole scheme remains an unreasonable burden on freedom of expression, Obenberger said, but several previous uncertainties have been addressed. I think [the authors of the regulations] gave much attention to what the judge did in Denver.

 
In the sex toy ban in Alabama

From AVN see full article

In a surprise move, the U.S. Supreme Court has requested that the state of Alabama file an answer brief responding to the petition for writ of certiorari filed by adult retailer Sherri Williams, as well as the "friend of the court" brief in support of the Williams petition filed by the Free Speech Coalition and the First Amendment Lawyers Association.

Williams has spent nearly 10 years fighting for her right to sell devices that can be used for sexual stimulation to her customers in Alabama, which has an "obscene device" statute preventing her from doing so.

First Amendment attorney and Free Speech board member Reed Lee: The court has now officially requested the state to respond. That's a moderate sign that they're interested. If there were no interest in the petition at this point, they wouldn't bother making the state respond if it didn't want to. How strong the interest is and where the interest lies is going to be an impenetrable mystery until at least the first week of the term, but it's a sign that there's some interest there.

 
Sex toy ban continues in Alabama

From Google News see full article

The US Supreme Court has declined to hear a challenge to Alabama's ban on the sale of sex toys, ending a nine-year legal battle and sending a warning to store owners to clean off their shelves.

An adult-store owner had asked the justices to throw out the law as an unconstitutional intrusion into the privacy of the bedroom. But the Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal, leaving intact a lower court ruling that upheld the law.

Sherri Williams, owner of Pleasures stores in Huntsville and Decatur, said she was disappointed, but plans to sue again on First Amendment free speech grounds.

Alabama's anti-obscenity law, enacted in 1998, bans the distribution of any device designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs for anything of pecuniary value.

The law does not ban the possession of sex toys. Residents may legally purchase sex toys out of state for use in Alabama.

Similar laws have been upheld in Georgia, Mississippi, and Texas, but struck down in Louisiana, Kansas and Colorado, said Mark Lopez, a former American Civil Liberties Union attorney in New York who worked on the Alabama case until recently.

 
Secret that is

From The Irish Independent see full article

A Republican senator issued a humiliating apology after his telephone number appeared in the phone records of the so-called 'DC Madam', making him the first member of Congress to become ensnared in a growing Washington sex scandal.

David Vitter, a conservative and staunch family values advocate, admitted that his telephone details appeared on a list of 13,000 numbers posted on the internet by Deborah Jeane Palfrey.

She is accused by federal prosecutors of running a prostitution ring that catered for Washington's power elite. Ms Palfrey's decision to release on her website all her phone records covering the seven years up to August 2006 - the list has no names - has sparked frenzied speculation in Washington about who else might be involved.

Vitter, who is married with four children, said he used the escort service before becoming a senator. He said in a statement: This was a very serious sin for which I am, of course, completely responsible. Several years ago, I asked for and received forgiveness from God and my wife in confession and marriage counselling. Out of respect for my family, I will keep my discussion of the matter there - with God and them.

Vitter is a solid Louisiana conservative who opposes gay marriage and abortion.

 
Free speech protects a good grind in Salem

From X Biz see full article

Lap dances performed in Salem are protected under free speech provisions of Oregon’s state constitution, according to a ruling recently issued by a Marion County judge.

The ruling issued by Judge Albin Norblad came in a case that stemmed from a lap dance performed by exotic dancer Laurel Guillen for an undercover police officer in April 2005 at Cheetah’s, a club in northeast Salem.

According to court documents, the officer paid Guillen for making contact with her pelvis to his pelvis area and thigh for the purpose of arousing sexual excitement.

Guillen was found guilty of “prohibited touching” by a Salem municipal court in November 2006, fined $250 and sentenced to a one-year probation period. Guillen then appealed her conviction, where Norblad heard the case.

Norblad’s ruling relied on an Oregon Supreme Court case in which the state’s highest court deemed it legal under its free speech laws for a dancer to press and rub her breasts against a male customer’s chest and to perform a live sex show with another dancer.

 
Possession of sex toys with intent to distribute

Based on an article from AVN see full article

Jackson police raided two adult bookstores, arresting two clerks and a store owner for possession of sex toys with intent to distribute.

An undercover policeman had purchased sex toys at Secrets Adult Book and Video Store and Adult Video and Book earlier in the day. State law prohibits the sale of items designed to stimulate human genitalia, according to Sgt. William Gladney.

Both businesses are now closed until further notice.

 
Nudity banned in Daytona Beach lap dancing clubs

Based on an article from AVN see full article

A federal appeals court called for Daytona strippers to cover up last week, upholding strict city regulations on adult businesses and public nudity.

G-strings and pasties will not provide enough coverage, as dancers at strip clubs that serve liquor are now required to wear what the city calls "conservative bikinis."

The ruling effectively reverses a previous district court decision from January 2006 which found that Daytona Beach's nudity laws were unconstitutional because they violated the right to free speech.

"I don't think it means anything," Lollipop's lawyer, Brett Hartley: We don't see the ruling as a major setback. This is just part of the dance. Hartley and the gentlemen's club plan on taking the case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Based on an article from AVN see full article

Bunnell near Daytona Beach has proposed a repressive local ordinance. Club patrons would have to document their full name, birth date, address and telephone number if they wanted a lap dance. The information would go on a contract that also lists the full name of the dancer, the cost and a description of the service.

Violators, both patrons and owners, would face steep fines and jail time.

 
California's proposed morality tax set at 8%

Based on an article from AVN see full article

With its hearing just one week away, AB 1551, the California adult business tax bill authored by Assemblymember Charles Calderon, has finally been given a figure, ie 8%

That means that any video store in the state that normally sells an adult DVD for $39.95 will now be selling it for $43.15; any $20 door fee at a dance club will now $1.60 more expensive; and any $12 hotel pay-per-view adult movie will cost an extra $0.96.

This is a "gross receipts" tax, so it applies to receipts, from whatever source, received by the adult entertainment venue, excepting any sales taxes imposed on the transaction. An "adult entertainment venue" is defined as a retail establishment located in California with a substantial purpose that is the sale or rental of adult material, the premises of any facility located in California that provides a public or private viewing of adult material, or the public premises of any facility located in California that offers live sexually explicit conduct that is prohibited to audiences under 18 years of age or 21 years of age, depending on the sale of alcoholic beverages on the premises.

You might be exempt from the tax if your gross receipts from transactions involving adult material do not exceed 5% of all gross receipts of the retail establishment, or the nudity you offer is a legitimate play, opera, ballet, or concert at a concert house, playhouse or theater, museum, or educational institution or facility on whose premises alcoholic beverages may be sold but which derives less than 20 percent of its gross receipts from the sale of alcoholic beverages.

In other words, pretty much no adult business owner reading this article will be exempt, including the mom-and-pop video stores.

A hearing on the bill before the Assembly Committee of Revenue & Taxation will take place at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, July 9 at the state capitol. The Free Speech Coalition urges everyone who is interested in this bill to attend the hearing to voice their opposition to it. Several Free Speech board members are expected to attend.

 
Chicago closes strip clubs

Based on an article from AVN see full article

A circuit judge has ordered two Chicago area strip clubs and an adult video store to close down, citing lack of proper adult business licenses.

Judge Margaret Mullen ordered Dancers, Baby Dolls and Video Magic to cease operations, ending a nine-year fight between the three businesses and the county.

Mullen has now scheduled a hearing for Aug. 8 to decide how much to fine the businesses for staying open without a proper license.

The ongoing battle between the county and the three businesses has been raging since 1998, when the local board passed an ordinance requiring that all adult-oriented businesses be licensed and follow certain repressive regulations. All three businesses filed lawsuits against the county in 2003, to no avail.

The disputed regulations ban nude dancing completely, and require both strip clubs to close by midnight (neither currently serves alcohol, so they remain open until 4 a.m.). According to the report, both clubs would also have to build a stage that is at least 18 inches above the seating area, and patrons would have to be seated at least 8 feet from the stage. The minimum age would be raised from 18 to 21, and direct contact between dancers and patrons would be illegal.

The owners of both Dancers and Baby Dolls testified during the trial, both saying that the new ordinance would significantly hurt their businesses.

Charges over mail order Max Hardcore films

From The Smoking Gun see full article

Federal prosecutors have charged a pair of Ohio businessmen with selling obscene movies via their web site.

According to a complaint unsealed  in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City, the FBI last year launched an undercover probe of Movies by Mail, a Cleveland business owned by brothers Sami and Michael Harb.

After placing an online order, Agent Martin Schwarz received a package containing pornographic DVDs and fourteen condoms. As Schwarz noted in the complaint, he is a Utah resident familiar with the community standards of the ultra-conservative state. As such, the agent concluded that a trio of DVDs he reviewed were obscene: None of the three films has a plot line. The films consist entirely of scenes of hard core sexual acts being performed by multiple men and women.

Two of the films featured Paul Little (a/k/a Max Hardcore), who himself was named last month in a ten-count federal obscenity indictment. One of the films was Extreme Associates' Cocktails 5.

Update: Charge Details

2nd July

The two men have now been charged by a federal grand jury in Salt Lake City with distribution of obscene materials and related offenses,

The indictment  charges Cleveland residents Sami R. Harb and Michael Harb, doing business as Movies by Mail, with three counts of engaging in a business of selling or transferring obscene DVDs, and three counts of using the mails to deliver obscene DVDs.

If convicted, the defendants face a maximum penalty of five years in prison on each count, according to a U.S. Justice Department press release. A summons was issued ordering the defendants to appear for arraignment on July 12 in Salt Lake City before U.S. Magistrate Judge Brooke Wells.

The indictment supersedes a complaint filed in federal court in Salt Lake City.

Seattle council passes zoning for strip clubs

Based on an article from AVN see full article

The Seattle City Council unanimously passed a new set of zoning rules, effectively lifting an 18-year moratorium on new strip clubs in the city.

A federal judge struck down the moratorium in 2005, saying club owners must be allowed to open new businesses.

According to the report, the new laws will require the clubs to be at least 800 feet from elementary or secondary schools, child-care centers, community centers, public parks or open space where children tend to congregate. Clubs must also maintain a 600-foot distance from other adult businesses.

Crucial to the law is the provision that clubs may not serve alcohol.

Patent Office refuse trademark to adult website

Based on an article from AVN see full article

Kink.com owner Peter Acworth is fighting the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to trademark his website fuckingmachines.com. Acworth's company originally applied for the trademark two years ago, but was denied on the basis of a statute dating back to 1905.

Registration is refused because the proposed mark consists of or comprises immoral or scandalous matter, attorney Michael Engel wrote in his review of the case. The term 'fucking' is an offensive and vulgar reference to the act of sex.[...] A mark that is deemed scandalous ... is not registrable.

Acworth's attorney Marc Randazza filed an appeal June 5, which will now lead to a hearing before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board.

Based on an article from AVN see full article

The New Jersey State Assembly has approved a pair of bills designed to repress sexually oriented businesses.

Assemblywoman Pamela Lampitt proposed the legislation in response to a Union City businessman's plans to convert a vacant building in a residential area of Cherry Hill into a store selling adult videos and sex toys.

Sexually oriented businesses may have First Amendment rights, but that doesn't give them carte blanche to exploit children or erode the property values of nearby homeowners, Lampitt said.

Passed by a 75-1 vote, the first bill (A-3692) would allow municipalities to adopt ordinances for regulating and licensing adult businesses. The legislation would also require adult businesses to pay the cost of stationing a mandatory crossing guard, police officer or private security guard outside any school, school bus stop or child care center within 3,000 feet of such establishments during hours when children are likely to be walking outside.

The Assembly voted 77-1 to pass the second bill, A-3693, which would impose tougher zoning and "community notification" requirements on adult businesses before they open their doors.

Both measures now go to the Senate for further consideration.

   
Contending that a pornstar named Lexus degrades their car

From freep
 

Toyota is worried that a pornography web site run by two Detroiters is damaging the reputation of one of its luxury cars.

The Japanese automaker filed a federal lawsuit, alleging Mario Mendoza and Katie Lynn Krzywdzinski broke trademark laws by using “Lexus” as the moniker of its porn star and the name of its web site.

The suit alleges the site uses the mark ‘Lexus’ in an unwholesome and unsavory context and is likely to tarnish and blur the distinctive qualities of the car model.

The site’s star, Lexus Cash, claims to be an amateur who started making home videos of my girlfriends fooling around.

Based on an article from AVN see full article

Local authorities closed House of Thrills, an adult business in downtown Nashville. This was after a nine-month police investigation into supposedly "publicly lewd and unsafe sexual acts."

A criminal court ordered the venue to be shuttered.

According to The Tennessean, House of Thrills failed a random inspection and around 80 arrests have been made there since October for various for sexual offenses.

In an effort to repress adult-oriented businesses, Nashville authorities have also closed two area strip clubs in the last year for failing to comply with a new, more stringent adult ordinance. Among other restrictions, the 18-month-old adult entertainment law prohibits dancers from coming within three feet of club patrons.

We're not policing morality, Metro police Sgt. Tony Blackburn told The Tennessean: ...BUT... we'll be looking at any public business that allows acts like this.

Based on an article from AVN see full article

A Lubbock local lingerie store clerk was arrested May 4 for having sold two adult novelties to an undercover police officer in supposed violation of a state obscenity law.

Police executed a search warrant at Somethin' Sexy. State law views the possession of six or more sex toys as evidence of intent to sell - while "novelties" are illegal, devices sold for the purpose of sexual stimulation are criminalized as "obscene".

Store owner Gary Evans reportedly asked to take the rap in lieu of his employee, but police refused. No court date has been set for the arrested store clerk, but if convicted, she would have to register as a sex offender.

From Huntsville Times see full article

Senator Tom Butler didn't set out to ban the sale of sex toys throughout the state, launching Alabama on a nine-year legal battle that last week reached the U.S. Supreme Court.

Sex toys were not even the focus of the bill, said Tim Morgan, the district attorney in Madison County, who helped Butler compile the information for the 1998 anti-obscenity law.

Instead, Butler, who sponsored the bill, had been vocal in his attempt to quash the nude dancing that proliferated in clubs in Madison County in the 1990s. Several statutes had been tried, but club owners had always found loopholes, recalled Morgan.

In 1998, the new law was designed to close those loopholes. The 1998 Anti-Obscenity ended completely nude dancing. However, the act also included a line banning the distribution of any device designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of the human genital organs.

Last week, Sherri Williams, owner of adult toy shops in Huntsville and Decatur, took what she says will be her final appeal, asking the U.S. Supreme Court to hear her challenge of the state law: It's become quite an embarrassment to the state.

The Supreme Court receives hundreds of requests each year and hears only a small fraction. If the Supreme Court declines to hear Williams case, as it did in 2005, the ban would take effect here for the first time. The sale of a sex toy in Alabama could lead to a maximum of one year in jail and a $10,000 fine. The law does not prohibit possession.

From AVN see full article

Officials have proposed new legislation requiring exotic dancers to register for a license to entertain in the state of New York.

New York Assemblyman Felix Ortiz (Democrat), proposed the legislation as part of a "Dance Performer Registration Act" which would impose fines on dancers working without a permit.

The proposed law would create a database of exotic dancers in New York State. Dancers would have to register with the state's Labor Department every three years, with strip clubs required to obtain a certificate to employ licensed dancers. Any dancer caught working without a permit would be fined $20 for the first offense and $50 for every offense thereafter, and clubs employing unlicensed dancers would be fined $1,000 or more.

If passed, the Dance Performer Registration Act would go into effect Jan. 1, 2008.

From AVN see full article
See also Ohio Strip Club Bill Called 'Pointless'

The Republican majority on the Ohio House Judiciary Committee have narrowly approved legislation that would ban physical contact between strippers and patrons inside the state's strip clubs. The new bill would also prohibit nude or semi-nude performing between midnight and 6 a.m. and require that all clubs without liquor licenses close at midnight.

According to a recent report in the Cleveland Plain Dealer, club patrons found in violation of the no-touching rule could be charged with a first or fourth-degree misdemeanor, depending on the "intimacy" of the touch.

House Republicans also added a provision to the bill that would cover the legal costs of any lawsuits filed against townships that use the same type of legislation, in an attempt to protect townships that pass stricter strip club regulations.

State Governor Ted Strickland had not yet reviewed the compromise bill and would evaluate its constitutionality should it pass the legislature.

Realisation that an anti adult entertainment law would also restrict R and NC-17 films

From AVN see full article

The founder of the pro-censorship group Citizens for Community Values (CCV) is of the impression that the  Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), is working hand-in-glove with the adult industry to get Senate Bill SB 16, a bill to restrict the hours adult businesses can be open in Ohio and institute six-foot "set-backs" for exotic dancers, killed by Gov. Ted Strickland.

CCV's problem is that the MPAA sent a letter to Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann objecting to the fact that SB 16 contains an exemption from the bill's definition of an "adult business" for stores that sell MPAA-rated movies, and specifically mentions MPAA codes "NC-17" and "R".

In an astonishing show of good faith, the MPAA takes the position in this memo that, "The exhibition of a motion picture to an adult may be proscribed only if the motion picture is obscene, which requires a finding that such films, 'if taken as a whole, appeal to the prurient interest in sex, which portray sexual conduct in a patently offensive way, and which taken as a whole, do not have serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value...'"

In other words, the MPAA has cleverly noted that until a movie – any movie – is declared obscene by a jury, that movie is legal to sell, to rent and to watch in a viewing booth, and that therefore, attempting to draw a distinction between, say, The Tin Drum, for which stores in Kansas were prosecuted several years ago, and Deep Throat, prosecuted in several places over the decades, is a false and misleading one ... and one that should not be immortalized by exempting mainstream stores carrying NC-17 and R products from laws regulating stores carrying products not rated by the MPAA.

CCV of course, are not happy about the memo.

 
From AVN see full article

Keith Dailey, a spokesperson for Gov. Ted Strickland, said on Tuesday that his boss would allow SB 16, which closes adult businesses between midnight and 6 a.m., and forbids dancers from touching anyone but spouses at their clubs, to become law in late August by, essentially, doing nothing.

Although Strickland had had questions about the clearly-unconstitutional bill's constitutionality during the bill's debate in both legislative chambers, terming such debate "silly" and "comsuming too much time and attention."

Of course, If he were persuaded it was unconstitutional, he would have vetoed the bill, Dailey said, but since large (Republican) majorities in both houses voted for it, Strickland won't stand in the way.

 
From AVN see full article
See also www.baceohio.com

The Buckeye Association of Club Executives (BACE) has formed Citizens for Community Standards,  to oppose Ohio's recently-enacted anti-adult legislation

The name is an obvious take-off on the name of Cincinnati's ultra-conservative Citizens for Community Values.

Even though the law is not scheduled to take effect until Sept. 4, it's already hurting the clubs and the dancers who work there. Customers think it's gone into effect, so they are afraid to patronize Ohio's adult cabarets, BACE spokeswoman Sandy Theis told the Dayton Daily News.

The group has already secured the 1,000 voter signatures needed to place the repeal initiative on the November ballot, and has won approval from both the Secretary of State and the Ohio Attorney General, certifying that both the text of the law appended to the petition and a required summary thereof are truthful and fair.

The group must now collect 241,366 signatures of registered voters in 44 of Ohio's 88 counties in order to place the repeal language before the voters at the next general election. The group's deadline for collection of those signatures is Sept. 3

The projected cost of the petition drive is over $1 million. Contributions are being accepted here on the BACE website.

 
Nutter Citizens for Community Values vs Good Citizens for Community Standards

Based on an article from AVN see full article
See also www.baceohio.com

An attorney representing Ohio-based nutter organization Citizens for Community Values has sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Buckeye Association of Club Executives (ACE), ordering the adult entertainment trade group to stop using the name "Citizens for Community Standards" in its fight against the anti-adult entertainment Senate Bill 16.

ACE formed Citizens for Community Standards in June as a political action committee to collect signatures needed to block the bill from taking effect in September. The committee gathered 1,000 signatures from registered voters opposing the legislation, and is now drumming up additional support to strike down the legislation.

Your use of 'Citizens for Community Standards' in your campaign to oppose the implementation [sic] Senate Bill 16 infringes CCV's trade name and its trademark rights, wrote attorney Charles M. Allen in his letter. Further, it is apparent that your mark was selected with the intention of creating confusion and misleading voters.

Senate Bill 16 is unconstitutional and unnecessary,' said ACE spokeswoman Sandy Theis. Even though the law is not scheduled to take effect until Sept. 4, it's already hurting the clubs and the dancers who work there. Customers think it's gone into effect so they are afraid to patronize Ohio's adult cabarets.

An ACE press release points out that the new law was promoted by Citizens for Community Values, a Cincinnati-based organization headed by self-described pornography addict Phil Burress. The law makes it a crime for customers or club employees to touch nude or semi-nude entertainers or their clothing -- even if the touching is as innocent as a hand shake or a pat on the back.

 
Petitioning against Ohio's anti-adult law

Based on an article from AVN see full article
 

The petition drive to repeal SB 16, the Ohio anti-adult law is on track according to activist Sandy Theis.

The adult businesses have to collect just over 241,000 signatures of people who voted in the last gubernatorial election, at least 3% of those signatures have to be from voters in each of 44 of Ohio's 88 counties, and that's been the biggest stumbling block so far.

The next phase is, they start going door to door with lists of registered voters, she continued. The task is all the more difficult, because large sections of rural Ohio are conservative ... but Theis has seen signs that "conservative" doesn't always mean "anti-adult."

At present, Theis is working vigorously to get her organization's website to the point where supporters can contribute online, and she expects that by Friday, www.citizensforcommunitystandards.org.

 
Ohio strip club restrictions now on hold

Based on an article from AVN see full article
See also www.citizensforcommunitystandards.org

New state rules restricting strip clubs will not yet go into effect after opponents submitted petitions for a statewide referendum overturning the law.

The group representing strip club owners and dancers want a ballot measure to overturn a law that halts nude dancing after midnight and prohibits patrons from touching strippers.

Citizens for Community Standards turned in 382,508 signatures to Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner’s office, said Sandy Theis, a spokeswoman for the group. The signatures still must be validated by Brunner’s office: We are very, very confident that we’re going to make it on the ballot in November, Theis said.

The group needs at least 241,366 valid signatures from registered voters — a number that equals 6% of the total vote cast in the 2006 governor’s race — to place the issue on the November ballot.

Jeff Ortega, a spokesman for the secretary of state said Brunner’s office would work quickly to determine if the group collected enough valid signatures to put the issue on the ballot. If the secretary of state’s office finds the group fell short, Citizens for Community Standards will have an additional ten business days to submit more signatures, Theis said.

Update: Vote No on Issue 1

24th September 2007

Citizens for Community Standards announced that it will henceforth be known as "Vote No on Issue 1 Committee."

The nutters of Citizens for Community Values (CCV) claimed that said name was deliberately selected in order to confuse voters, and filed a request for a non-emergency temporary restraining order to force the group to change it. The new name was instituted in order to bring an end to the dispute.

From AVN see full article

City Attorney Arturo Michel's office has ordered over 100 adult businesses in Houston, Texas to shut down or face civil and criminal penalties.

They need to close up, Capt. Steve Jett of the Houston police department's vice unit told the Chronicle. We wanted to give them fair warning.

In the letters, the city notified owners of adult bookstores, cabarets and other sexually-oriented businesses that they are operating in violation of an ordinance that prohibits such establishments from locating within 1,500 feet of churches, schools, parks and other designated areas of the city.

Passed by the City Council in 1997, the ordinance has been challenged in federal and appellate courts for the past decade on constitutional grounds.

Update: Appeal Fails

22nd August 2007

The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has sided with the city of Houston in its ongoing effort to restrict adult businesses, upholding a law that would force over 100 clubs and stores to close.

The ruling affirmed the 1,500 foot restrictions. The court also agreed that the city demonstrated enough alternative sites for adult businesses.

From AVN see full article

First Amendment attorney John Weston, who represents two of the largest adult cabarets in the city, continues to brand the ordinance unconstitutional, and has filed a motion with the Fifth Circuit for a stay of enforcement and/or an injunction against enforcement pending appeal.

Nothing is over, Weston declared. We think there are very, very major issues to be raised, including some matters that the district court just rendered decisions on that are the only ones in the history of the country that have ever been rendered in this fashion, and in the Fifth Circuit, the standard for getting a stay is basically, you just have to show that there are serious questions that you're raising, that the balance of hardships tips in favor of the party asking for relief, and that there's no serious hardship that would result to the other side in granting the motion.

From Times-Herald see full article

Palestine city attorney Steve Routon recently introduced an ordinance to the Palestine City Council that allows the city to declare a business selling pornography inside the city limits a “nuisance,” giving them legal reason to take them to court.

Routon told the council last night that he was asked to draw up the ordinance by Mayor Becky Dunn, but was unsure if the measure would overstep the city’s authority and expressed doubts if it would hold up in court.

The ordinance states that No business shall hereafter be established or located in Palestine...which sells pornographic materials, pictures or videos.

It states that any business selling these materials are a nuisance, stated Routon. That is not a criminal offense because I don’t believe that you can make it a crime to sell it inside the city. It may or may not stick, but it gives the city the right to go to court to enforce the ordinance.

From AVN see full article

El Paso adult businesses may be in store for some stricter laws.

One section of the proposed law would immediately mandate a distance of at least six feet between nude or semi-nude dancers and customers, banning lap dances.

The second aspect of the ordinance targets adult video stores. If the ordinance passes, it would require a designated employee to monitor all theater activity.