The city of San Antonio has decided on a high-tech way to attack strip-club prostitution and ordinance violations -- starting on January 1, exotic dancers will be required to wear ID badges while performing:

The City Council on Friday approved a measure requiring exotic dancers to apply for permits and wear them while performing.

Law enforcement authorities said the rule, which was unanimously approved by the 11-member council and goes into effect in 10 days, will allow them to quickly identify dancers who are breaking nudity ordinances. (Among other things, full nudity and contact with customers are not allowed in San Antonio strip clubs.)

Thanks to a series of rather stupid Supreme Court rulings, cities are unable to protect themselves from the deleterious effects of strip clubs on their communities after having ruled nude dancing a form of speech. In fact, nude dancing currently enjoys more legal protections than political speech after McCain-Feingold, a development that must have Thomas Jefferson spinning faster than a disco ball in his grave. Instead of outlawing the practice to protect themselves, cities have to use silly laws like ID badges to annoy the dancers while doing little to stop prostitution.

On the other hand, actions like this do have an entertainment value all their own, especially when news agencies interview the ladies affected by the new regulation. One dancer, Tempest, has an interesting sense of irony:

"I really don't know where we're supposed to place it," complained a dancer who called herself Tempest. "It's definitely going to get in the way of our performing, and it might just look a little bit tacky."

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry is

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Interviews For Inspectors Begin At The Cash Bar:

» The Attack On Strippers And Strip Clubs from Diggers Realm
There are a few articles on strip clubs recently that annoy me. First we have investigators in San Francisco going around visiting strip clubs and checking into whether club owners are taking more than they should from the strippers. Sacramento... [Read More]

Tracked on December 29, 2004 7:52 AM