Lap dancers beware
2003-09-17 09:42
Los Angeles - The US city of Los Angeles on Tuesday approved tough new laws banning the practice of lap dancing by strippers in the city's girlie bars, sparking outrage in the skin business.
The city council unanimously approved banning lap dances, as well as VIP rooms, direct tipping and all bodily contact between customers and dancers in strip clubs and bikini bars in the second largest US city.
The new law also orders a 1.83-metre separation between patrons and entertainers, requires security guards to be on duty at all times in the establishments and an annual police review of club permits.
And the new ordinance carries tough penalties: Dancers, customers and club owners face up to six months in jail and up to $2 500 in fines if convicted of flouting the new morality laws.
Proponents of the ban say girlie bars contribute to prostitution, drug use and other illicit behaviour.
"Our surrounding communities don't allow this, we do, and that's why we are now the mecca (of adult businesses)," councilwoman Cindy Miscikowski told her colleagues, adding that the skin business was growing in the city.
But furious dancers and club owners disagree and argue that the ordinance will kill their businesses.
Dancers make most of their money from tips in the form of cash, which is usually tucked into their skimpy G-strings - a practice the "no touch" rule now outlaws.
Roger Diamond, a lawyer representing about 20 Los Angeles strip club owners, said he would file a legal challenge to the ordinance.
While the outward appearance of a strip club and where it advertises may be regulated by a city body, what goes on inside the establishment cannot, he said.
One-time aspiring Hollywood actress Marianne Summers, who now works in an adult club said a decline in the Los Angeles film business had left her no option but to strip in order to pay her bills.
She said most of her income came from lap dances and performances in so-called "VIP rooms".
"I would not be able to survive on stage shows ... with the six-foot restriction," she said. "I would have to rely on unemployment (benefits)."
Similar ordinances in the California city of San Diego and in Washington DC have been upheld by appellate courts. The new law could be in place as soon as October.