By Dara Kam ©2024 The News Service of Florida
TALLAHASSEE — A federal judge has paused a challenge to a new Florida law that prevents strippers under age 21 from performing in adult entertainment establishments, putting a hold on the lawsuit while an appeals court considers a dispute over a similar Jacksonville restriction.
Operators of two nude-dancing establishments, a dancer and a retail store that sells adult-oriented items are challenging the state law, primarily alleging that the age restriction violates workers’ First Amendment rights.
U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor last month asked lawyers for the state and the plaintiffs to tell him whether the challenge should be put on hold until the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals resolves a lawsuit over a Jacksonville ordinance that blocks dancers under 21 from performing in adult establishments.
In a document filed Thursday, lawyers in Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office and the plaintiffs’ attorneys acknowledged that “there are claims and issues in this case” that were not presented in the Jacksonville lawsuit, which includes an establishment known as Wacko’s Too, Inc.
“However, the (state) statute and the ordinance at issue in Wacko’s are similar and the Eleventh Circuit decision is likely to address at least some common issues,” the joint document said. “Accordingly, a stay is warranted so that the parties and the court can benefit from the guidance likely to be provided by the Eleventh Circuit.”
Winsor on Thursday issued a stay and ordered lawyers to submit a status report two weeks after the appeals court rules in the Jacksonville case. A three-judge panel of the Atlanta-based court heard arguments in June.
State lawmakers and Gov. Ron DeSantis this year overwhelmingly approved the age restriction (HB 7063), amid the legal wrangling over Jacksonville’s ordinance. Backers of the state law contend that it is aimed at combatting human trafficking. The law, which took effect July 1, includes second-degree felony charges for people who employ or allow dancers under 21 to perform in strip clubs.
The law was challenged by operators of Cafe Risque, a nude-dancing establishment in Alachua County; operators of Sinsations, a nude-dancing establishment in Jacksonville; Serenity Michelle Bushey, who performed at Cafe Risque but was barred by the law from working there because she was under 21; and Exotic Fantasies, Inc., which operates a retail store in Jacksonville.
The lawsuit said the Legislature did not “consider any alternative forms of regulation which would burden First Amendment rights less severely; that is, the Legislature made no effort to solicit information in support of a more narrowly tailored law.” Also, it said the state had not shown a connection between human trafficking and adult entertainment establishments.
“HB 7063 does not actually target human trafficking or the individuals responsible for those criminal acts,” the lawsuit said. “Instead, it regulates only the potential (if unlikely) victims of trafficking and only the subset of potential victims who are actively engaged in speech activities. The state considered no evidence or studies supporting the notion that human trafficking is associated with adult entertainment establishments or that trafficking is more common in such establishments; or, to the extent that such information was considered, it consisted of shoddy data which is insufficient to support the asserted government interest.”
State lawyers in September asked Winsor to dismiss the challenge, arguing in part that the law is aimed at protecting “vulnerable” young people from exploitation.
The state’s motion argued that the law “furthers an important or substantial governmental interest unrelated to the suppression of free expression.”
The age restriction “is part of a larger bill designed to combat human trafficking,” the Sept. 13 motion said.
“The statute prevents persons aged 18 to 20 from working in these establishments because this age group is vulnerable to the exploitation of human trafficking. It does not prevent adult entertainment establishments from hiring nude dancers, employees, and contractors altogether,” the state’s lawyers argued.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Corrigan last year upheld the Jacksonville age restriction, which the city also contends is designed to prevent human trafficking.
Attorneys for club owners and dancers who challenged the Jacksonville ordinance wrote in an appeals-court brief last year that the “record shows that there had never been an arrest for human trafficking at an adult club in Jacksonville.”
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