COLUMBUS, OH – Add Ohio to the list of states considering more restrictive strip club regulations, with the State Senate expected to vote on a new bill this week that would impose new standards on clubs statewide.Among other measures, the new laws would mandate that a distance of at least 6 feet be maintained between performer and patron, that performers would have to stay on a stage at least 2 feet above their patrons, and that all adult clubs can be open for business only between the hours 10am and 11pm.
The bill has already passed the Ohio House by a margin of 92-5, and local Columbus NBC affiliate Channel 4 reported that the Senate could vote on the bill within the next several days.
While supporters of the legislation argue that current laws don’t allow the state enough control over strip clubs, critics decry the bill’s curtailing of basic, Constitutionally-guaranteed freedoms.
“People need to be open as long as they want to be open,” Jim Everett of the Buckeye Association of Club Executives told Channel 4. “There are enough regulations in this state already, limiting what people can do, and I think we’ve had it, and most of the citizens of Ohio have had it.”
Ohio’s more conservative voices disagree, naturally. Phil Buress, of the group Citizens for Community Values, said that the current Ohio laws regulating the clubs are “not good enough”, adding “What we’re finding is the fact that the smaller communities and even some of the cities just do not have the resources to fight this in court.”
In recent weeks, topless bars, legal battles and new legislation have popped up in the news on several occasions. In Seattle, tight new restrictions on erotic dancing have been enacted following a court case which lifted the city’s ban on the opening of new topless bars. In Scottsdale, AZ, Mayor Mary Manross has vowed to shut down the city’s strip clubs, and the city council is considering tight new regulations – in large part as a response to Jenna Jameson’s well-publicized purchase of an ownership stake in the local club Babe’s Cabaret.
