San Antonio- In the nine months since the San Antonio city council approved a controversial new sexually oriented business law and in the three months since a compromise version of the law was approved by a federal judge, exactly one stripper has applied for the permit required under the law.

One of the most controversial provisions of the law is one that requires all stripper to obtain a permit from the city and wear a badge ‘somewhere on their person,’ usually on a strap around their ankles or on the tiny ‘t-back’ thong worn by most topless dancers.

The figures were released by Councilman Chip Haass, who was the driving force behind the new law, and he said the goal is to get dancers to comply voluntarily. He pointed out that under the agreement reached between the city and the topless dancers and the clubs in court, the law will not be enforced until September 12th.

“They’re not being cited without being given plenty of time to comply,” Haass said.

He said the city will not ‘crack down’ on day one, but he hopes for ‘voluntary compliance.’

“We can get voluntary compliance, I will get plenty happy,” Haass said. “Its not like we want dancers to go to jail. We just want the clubs to comply.”

He said after September 12th anyone who has not complied will be cited.

In addition to the registration required of strippers, strip clubs, and managers, the new law sets out distances that the dancers must remain from customers while topless, allows lap dancing while the strippers breasts are covered, and prohibits all nude dancing.

Supporters say the law is needed to prevent prostitution, drug sales, and other crimes they say are tied to topless clubs. Opponents and the strip clubs say the city can cite no statistics indicating that those crimes are any more common around strip clubs, or have any connection whatsoever to the legal activities that go on inside the clubs.