COLUMBUS - The Buckeye Association of Club Executives (ACE) has launched a petition drive to put an issue on the Nov. 6 ballot to block a law regulating strip clubs and other adult entertainment businesses from taking effect.
"Even though the law is not scheduled to take effect until Sept. 4, it's already hurting the clubs and the dancers who work there. Customers think it's gone into effect, so they are afraid to patronize Ohio's adult cabarets," ACE spokeswoman Sandy Theis told the Dayton Daily News.
Drafted in response to pressure from the Cincinnati-based ultra-conservative group Citizens for Community Values, the new bill prohibits physical contact between dancers and patrons as well as nude or semi-nude performing between midnight and 6 a.m. It additionally requires that all clubs without liquor licenses close at midnight.
In order to qualify for the Nov. 6 ballot, the petition must gather 1,000 signatures from registered voters. Those petitions must then be certified and then an additional 241,366 signatures must be filed by Sept. 3, the day before the law takes effect.
Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland said he would allow the bill to become law without his signature after it was approved by the state legislature.
The ballot issue would be a referendum — supporters of the law would vote "yes" and opponents "no."
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