CINCINNATI, OH — If the Citizens for Community Values gets its way, the days of slipping a dollar into a strippers garter belt will be as much a part of Ohio’s past as the state’s Anti-Saloon League, although it might well wish the latter could be resurrected in the ashes of the former.The conservative religious group, based in Cincinnati, is the same one responsible for the state’s 2004 constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, so its dislike for naked or nearly naked female dancers in close proximity to men willing to hand them money is hardly surprising.

Strip clubs aren’t the only form of adult entertainment that the group would like to see removed from the state’s streets. It also hopes that its Community Defense Act will close the doors of adult book stores, peep shows, and massage parlors — at least between the hours of midnight and 6:00am. Oddly enough, strip clubs that sell alcohol would be exempted from the restrictions, something the Anti-Saloon League would not have tolerated, but they would not be allowed to provide “sexually oriented entertainment activity” after the witching hour.

If all goes as the Citizens for Community Values hopes, dancers will not be allowed within six feet of patrons, regardless of whether the girls are nude or wearing bikinis. This means that lap dances, the primary source of income for many Ohio strippers, would cease to exist… legally.

That’s fine with Phil Buress, the group’s president. “If we can change the constitution to protect marriage, why can’t we pass a law?” he asks.

In response, Bill Martin, the disabled military veteran and ordained minister who happens to own the Just Teazin strip club asks another question. “How can you tell an 18-year-old man fighting in Iraq — willing to die for our country — that he can’t look at a naked breast after midnight?”

Dancers are unimpressed by the efforts to inconvenience their livelihood, as well. Several, speaking to the local press, pointed out that the cost of living, particularly as related to gas prices, is going up. Some wonder how they will care for their children if they’re denied the opportunity to bring in the money their families have come to depend upon.

“We’re just here to work,” one dancer insisted. “No one’s gonna pay us $10 or $20 to stand six feet from them. They’d pretty much shut us down.”

That, of course, is exactly what Buress’ group would love to see happen, all in the name of protecting the public from pornography.

Some of the members of Citizens for Community Values are convinced that patrons of adult establishments are secretly riddled with guilt over their behavior and that guilt is what inspires their intolerance of protestors, some of whom have been standing in front of businesses over the years.

During the late 1990s, as many as 100 local church-goers would stand in front of the Route 20 Video and News, and the Painesville Books and News, six days a week in protest of their existence. Only a few can be found today, but “We’re gonna keep picketing,” insists 82-year-old Bernie O’Leary, who started his anti-pornography vigil in May of 1997.

Among O’Leary’s complaints about the shops is the fact that they are located “right across the street from the fairgrounds.”

Other Ohio cities have adopted strong zoning ordinances that require sexually oriented businesses from being any closer than 1,000 feet from churches, schools, and parks, or closer than 300 feet from residences. Some cities have managed to drive their adult businesses entirely out of town, including Eastlake, which boarded up the Vine Street News after investigations determined that some patrons had had sex in the video booths and parking lot.

The latest Citizens for Community Values proposal will require 1,000 signatures before it can be submitted and have its language evaluated for possible inclusion on the November 2007 ballot or passage by the General Assembly. An earlier version was rejected on July 17th because it did not state that violations would be first-degree misdemeanors. Updated language has been submitted to the attorney general’s office but not ruled on yet.

If approved, the law would become effective 30 days after the election.