Strip clubs have won blockage of a newly-revised Ohio rule banning nude or topless dancing in liquor-serving establishments, with a federal judge ruling the revision still goes past constitutional limitations.
The owners of Tiffany's Cabaret, in Cleveland and Brunswick, won a preliminary injunction stopping the state liquor commission from enforcing Rule 52, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer. The rule was rewritten in 1998 after senior U.S. District Judge Ann Aldrich ruled the previous version unconstitutional. Both Tiffany's clubs sued to stop the revised 52 from taking effect.
Aldrich says in her new ruling that 52 not only bans nude dancing in strip clubs but also bans nudity on stage during stage productions where liquor is sold, bans bars from airing movies or television shows containing nudity or sexual situations, and would bar customers at cybercafes from seeing nudity or sexual imagery on computers.
``Ohio may prevent erotic dancers from appearing totally nude; however, in doing so, Ohio may not curtail a substantial amount of protected expression outside the realm of adult entertainment,'' Aldrich wrote in her ruling.
The Aldrich ruling is a key win for freedom of expression, Tiffany's attorney J. Michael Murray tells the Plain Dealer. He says the clubs don't plan to change their formats, which feature dancers wearing pasties and G-strings. State attorneys are reported reviewing the new Aldrich ruling.
