LAS VEGAS, NV — Fans, webmasters, and other adult entertainment professionals traveling to Las Vegas in January for Adult Entertainment Expo, the AVN Awards, Internext, or any other reason who plan on stopping by the local exotic dance locations need to know that things have changed a bit as regards proximity and the law. Last November saw the Nevada Supreme Court reverse two previous lower court rulings concerning whether or not close contact with strippers could be restrained without violating laws protecting “expressive conduct.” While the lower courts had insisted that keeping customers and dancers apart from one another did violate such laws, the high court found otherwise.
According to the state Supreme Court, even if regulation did violate the First Amendment, the amendment’s powers of protection are finite, especially as regards laws which curtail sexually transmitted diseases, illegal drugs, and criminal activity such as prostitution.
While Seattle voters have made it clear that they do not wish to see patrons and dancers forced to remain four feet apart from one another, Las Vegas now requires that their customers and dancer refrain from any physical contact of a sexual nature, harkening to a Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in California that disallows patrons and dancers from coming within two feet of one another.
