DUNCANVILLE, TX — The suburban Dallas town of Duncanville has followed Phoenix, AZ and other American cities in effectively outlawing swinger parties by banning “live sex shows” within residential neighborhoods — and it only took 10 years.Blame it on the Cherry Pit, an on-premises “lifestyle” club in an upscale neighborhood near I-20. For at least 15 years, the Pit has offered sex-positive couples and singles a weekend haven where they can drink and socialize, lounge together in hot tubs, and participate in sexual activity with multiple partners. As many as 100 people attend a typical party.
The city admits the club really isn’t harming anyone and it isn’t technically a business, since owner Jim Trulock eschews mandated attendance fees in favor of donations.
However, the neighbors are getting restless. They say a noisy “sex club” doesn’t belong in an area where there are children, and the parked cars of attendees snarl streets for blocks around.
The Cherry Pit is an anomaly in Duncanville, which markets itself as “The Perfect Blend of Family, Community and Business.” The city of about 36,000 residents offers 50 churches, but no registered sexually oriented businesses adorn its tax rolls. Still, it’s not trying to be prudish or judgmental, according to city spokeswoman Tonya Lewis.
“We’re not about infringing on the rights of the Cherry Pit patrons or owners,” Lewis told the Associated Press. “But now your right to have fun has infringed on everyone else’s. And now you have to draw the line.”
Lewis also said residents’ complaints typically took the form, “I came to Duncanville to have a family. I didn’t come here to live next to a sex club.”
Duncanville based its month-old live-sex-show ordinance on Phoenix’s, which was passed in 1998 and upheld by an appeals court in 2003. Trulock’s attorneys say they hope the same won’t be true of the Duncanville code. Ed Klein, one of them, said he plans to file a lawsuit this week that will challenge the constitutionality of the ordinance.
The city has issued three citations to Trulock, each carrying a maximum fine of $2,000, and Duncanville City Manager Kent Cagle has pledged to continue enforcing the new law. Trulock, on the other hand, vows not to close the club and has started a legal defense fund to fight the ordinance.
