COLUMBUS — Strippers want Ohio voters to let them keep on dancing.
They're launching 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 as scheduled on Sept. 4.
"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," Sandy Theis, spokeswoman for the Buckeye Association of Club Executives said Thursday.
The first hurdle is gathering 1,000 signatures from registered voters for the proposal. Once petitions with those signatures are certified by Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, the dancers and their allies must collect and file with Brunner an additional 241,366 signatures by Sept. 3, the day before the law takes effect, said Don McTigue, attorney for the group. If they meet that goal, the issue would qualify for the Nov. 6 ballot, said McTigue.
Strippers will help gather signatures, said Theis.
Gov. Ted Strickland let the bill regulating the strip clubs and adult entertainment businesses become law without his signature after it was approved by the legislature.
The law forbids touching between customers and nude or partially nude dancers and makes touching a crime.
The law would force strip clubs and other adult entertainment businesses to close between midnight and 6 a.m. Those with liquor licenses, however, could stay open until last call but nudity wold be banned after midnight. Partial nudity would be allowed, but dancers would have to conform to the existing state law by wearing at least G-strings and pasties.
The legislation was promoted by Citizens for Community Values, the Cincinnati-based group that led the fight in 2004 to win voter approval for the constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.
The ballot issue would be a referendum — supporters of the law would vote "yes" and opponents "no."
