The Back Alley Archives

Several San Antonio strip clubs today filed a federal lawsuit against the City of San Antonio, claiming that the new restrictions placed on sexually oriented businesses by City Council last month amount to unconstitutional restrictions on free speech.
"For many years now, the Supreme Court has found that exotic dances is protected by the first amendment," Attorney Luke Lirot tells 1200 WOAI's Micahel Board.

City Council tightened up restrictions on who qualifies as a sexually oriented business, how much skin must be covered up, and tightened zoning regulations for the operations.

"Such enforcement eliminates, prevents, chills and or discourages and ultimately totally restrains Plaintiffs from owning, operating and participating in the presentation of constitutionally protected free speech in the form of dance performances, now arbitrarily banned in San Antonio," the lawsuit reads.

The seven topless clubs which filed the lawsuit claim that 'the presentation of expressive dance performances is a beneficial social activity which creates an improved self image for the dancer and joy and entertainment for the beholder. The plaintiffs consider the appreciation of the human body, an integral component of the exotic dance performances described herein, which exhibit the socially accepted and or popular contemporary concepts of physical ability and attractiveness a socially fulfilling experience for both performers and patrons.'

The lawsuit also challenges the basic premise of the new regulations, that they were needed because sexually oriented businesses increase crime and reduce property values.

"The operation of the businesses has not caused decreases in property values, increases in criminal activity, or the acceleration of urban blight."

The law is also challenged as being discriminatory to immigrants, because a person is required to show 'a valid and lawful photographic identification card that was issued by a governmental authority of the United States,' meaning foreign residents are barred from the industry.

The lawsuit demands that the new regulations be thrown out, and the strip clubs be awarded damages 'for the deprivation of rights guaranteed by the First Amendment' in an amount to be determined by the court.

While most clubs observed the six-foot rule—one went so far as to place ropes between dancers and customers—Redner openly defied it. Lap dancing continued at the Mons, and almost daily the marquee featured a new jeer: "Mayor Greco and His Loony Toon Police Dept Are a Joke," "Hey Mayor Greco Censor This," "Greco You Coward Enforce Your Ordinance." The mayor obliged. Over the next year and a half, Redner was arrested on numerous occasions along with some 300 dancers and customers, including two members of the Dallas Stars, Ted Donato and Tyler Bouck.

The penalty—six months in jail and a $1,000 fine—decimated nude-club traffic. In July 2000, Redner told the St. Petersburg Times that business at the Mons was down 40 percent. But as the months of raids wore on, and it become apparent how much money and resources were being thrown at a second-degree misdemeanor—Redner paid the legal fees of everyone arrested at the Mons and encouraged them not to plea bargain, thus straining an already-burdened court system—public and media sentiment increasingly sided with the clubs. In August 2001, a county judge declared the ordinance unconstitutional. From then on, though the ordinance was never repealed and remains on the books to this day, enforcement was abandoned.