Registering Adult Industry Workers

All Memphis Sex Workers Must be Licensed. An ordinance that took effect January 1st requires workers at adult-oriented businesses and the owners of those businesses to be licensed annually before they're allowed to work in Shelby County.

Bartenders, waitresses, dancers, bouncers, store clerks, movie-theater employees, and others at the county's more than two dozen adult establishments must undergo criminal background checks and complete county license applications or change careers.

Background checks will be conducted by sheriff's deputies and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. A history of prostitution, rape (including statutory rape), sexual battery, public indecency, pandering, sale or distribution of obscene materials, or other illegal activities can keep a worker or business owner from being licensed by the five-member Shelby County Adult Oriented Establishment Board.

Seven strip clubs in Memphis have filed a federal lawsuit against the city and Shelby County seeking to block a recently passed ordinance that bans beer sales and topless dancing in the clubs.

Arguing that the entertainment offered in their establishments would be "unconstitutionally diminished" should the ordinance be enforced, the clubs also say the law is unenforceable in municipalities that have their own regulations and ordinances.

The law is irrational, arbitrary and capricious, says the suit, which was filed by attorneys. The clubs represented in the suit are: Christie's Cabaret; Platinum Rose; The Gold Club; New York, New York; The Pony; the Jet Strip and Downtown Dolls.

The ordinance was modeled after Tennessee's Adult-Oriented Establishment Registration Act of 1998, which has been upheld twice in court. In addition to the banning of alcohol and nudity, it requires dancers to maintain a distance of six feet from customers while performing. Employees of any type at the clubs are also required under the ordinance to file applications with the Shelby County Clerk's Office.

Unless defeated by the clubs' suit, the ordinance will take effect Apr. 29.

Update: Effected

4th May 2008

The repressive law came into effect as described above