Exotic dancers may soon be able to take it all off again after a federal judge struck down a controversial anti-nudity law.
U.S. District Judge John Antoon ruled that city ordinances banning nudity in establishments that sell alcohol to be in violation of the First and 14h amendments to the constitution.
Daniel Aaronson, an attorney representing the Lollipops Gentlemen’s Club in Daytona Beach, told the Daytona Beach News-Journal that the ruling paves the way for nightclub owners to return to business as usual.
The city had passed ordinances in 2002 effectively shutting down a number of nightclubs by asserting that nudity in establishments that served alcohol created so-called secondary negative impacts in the city such as crime, prostitution and illegal drug sales in the community.
In his ruling, the judge wrote “gone are the days when a municipality may enact an ordinance ostensibly regulating secondary effects on the basis of evidence consisting of little more than the self-serving assertions of municipality officials,”
Jeffrey Douglas, a Santa Monica attorney and expert on free speech issues, said the ruling is important to clubs around the country.
“This is the first time that a judge correctly ruled in this type of free speech issue,” Douglas said. “It shows public officials that they have to prove negative effects of nudity and not just make self serving assertions.”
City officials said they would study the ruling and would then determine whether to file an appeal.
The city imposed the ordinances in response to residents’ complaints of loud and sometimes drunk college students who wore thongs and who sometimes flashed their breasts in public during annual spring break festivities in local clubs.
Attorney Bret Hartley said it was unclear whether clubs could now be allowed to go completely nude.
Still, other club owners were unsure how the ruling would impact therm. The nightclubs Molly Brown’s and Pink Pony, for instance, had agreed to drop their suits against the city in exchange for being allowed to use skimpier bikinis for their dancers.
