The state supreme court has upheld the state law regulating adult entertainment businesses. The businesses had argued the law violated their First Amendment rights of free speech and expression. A lower court had upheld the law, saying it properly suppresses so-called “secondary effects associated with sexually oriented businesses.” The ruling upholding the lower court ruling was unanimous.
The law, which went into effect last year, had been challenged by a coalition of adult-oriented business and exotic dancers. It requires the stores and clubs to close before midnight, bans physical contact between customers and seminude employees, and bans full nudity in clubs and adult-oriented businesses where alcohol is served.
The law also says stages on which seminude dancers perform must be at least six feet from customers and at least 18 inches high. It bans new adult businesses from opening within 1,000 feet of homes, churches, parks, day care centers, and schools.
Two previous efforts to enact laws controlling sexually oriented businesses were struck down by appeals courts.