On Wednesday, many of The Lantern's readers might have noticed a headline reading "Strippers defend their rights." Such a headline invites a reader to look into the article, so many of our readers might be familiar with the proposed bill forcing strip clubs and other sex-oriented businesses to close between midnight and 6 a.m., and creating a six-foot buffer zone between patrons and dancers.
The bill, proposed by Citizens for Community Values, the group that led the efforts for the Ohio amendment outlawing same-sex marriage, supposedly will reduce crime and decrease blight surrounding strip clubs, according to David Miller, a vice president of the group. He went on to say dancers' earnings should not be adversely affected.
The Lantern thinks the group is misrepresenting the bill in order to make sure it passes. Forcing clubs to close during hours that seem to be among the busiest and keeping dancers away from patrons might do serious damage to the clubs and their employees. It appears the bill is simply an attempt at closing the clubs entirely, for reasons of personal morality. Some might remember the 2004 marriage amendment and its overly restrictive wording that banned not only gay marriage but also civil unions and other relationships that would be recognized under the law. The ban had little to do with protecting the sanctity of marriage and was actually a veiled attack on the gay community. This current bill does much the same thing with adult entertainment.
The real issue is not whether we approve of strip club owners, dancers or patrons, but rather are we so insecure in our beliefs that we have to attack everything that makes us uncomfortable, even if it is far from affecting us? Is our faith like a Jenga tower, where if a single piece is removed it completely crumbles?
We hope the Statehouse decides to ultimately vote on the issue and defeat it, because if it fails to reach the floor its supporters have threatened to put it on the November ballot. If that happens, expect the issue to be framed in such a way that voters feel forced to choose based on their own personal values. Groups such as Citizens for Community Values tend to be very successful getting issues framed in accordance with their message, and the groups they target - the gay community in 2004 and strippers now - tend to be in the minority, and therefore at a disadvantage for winning the hearts and minds of average voters.
When we go to the ballot box from now on, we need to ask ourselves why we vote a particular way, and figure out who is really affected.
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Jerry Lyon
posted 5/04/07 @ 5:13 PM EST
It is the highest courts of our land, not Citizens for Community Values, which have said that increases in multiple crimes and corresponding decreases in property values are the inevitable "adverse secondary effects" of sexually oriented businesses such as strip clubs. (Continued…)
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