I'll b damned...
These "reformers" r getting WAY OUTTA LINE!!
Read thsi shit below...
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Ohio- He's a former porn addict and born-again Christian who's on a crusade against the adult-entertainment industry. She's a former dancer and strip-club owner with a psychology degree who runs a national organization of adult-club executives. Phil Burress and Angelina Spencer, architects of radically different philosophies and agendas, are on a collision course. Both are scrambling for the high ground in what promises to be a short but fierce referendum campaign on Ohio's strip-club law. The fight will culminate in a statewide vote Nov. 6, assuming that backers have enough signatures to qualify for the ballot. The campaign will be well-financed -- attracting out-of-state dollars on both sides -- and closely watched nationally by political, business, religious and First Amendment observers.The battleground will span religion, morals, economics, local control and freedom of expression.
The adversaries:• Citizens for Community Values, Burress' group, successfully mounted a 2004 campaign to pass an Ohio constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. The organization has been criticized for refusing to reveal the source of millions of dollars in donations. • Citizens for Community Standards, Spencer's team, is backed by high-octane Ohio lobbyists and deep-pocketed club owners. Some circulators used deceptive tactics in gathering signatures for its referendum petition. Neil S. Clark, an influential Columbus lobbyist and veteran of 28 years dealing with state government, labeled it "the most complex issue I've ever been involved with." He represents the Buckeye Association of Club Executives. "The question is, 'Can we convince the public that the framers of the Ohio and U.S. Constitutions didn't want to legislate morality?'
"The referendum would decide the fate of Senate Bill 16, the Community Defense Act, passed in June by the General Assembly. The law enacted a "no touch" rule for dancers in strip clubs and clamped a midnight closing time on adult-oriented businesses, including bookstores, peep shows and massage parlors. Burress and his Cincinnati-based conservative Christian group are vigorously campaigning to preserve the law. They took the issue to the legislature this year through their own petition drive. It was approved by the Republican-controlled General Assembly, and Gov. Ted Strickland allowed it to take effect without his signature. However, opponents gathered enough signatures to put it on hold pending the outcome of the referendum. Burress said adult clubs, movies and pornography increase crime, reduce property values, speed moral decay and have a harmful secondhand effect on children. But his personal opposition runs deeper because of a past 25-year addiction to pornography that he said contributed to two divorces.
"I know the devastation personally that the sex industry can cause," said Burress, 65. "When I went through all the problems, I was one of them. That's the proof that I can present of what this does to a person."
Spencer, 40, was born in Sandusky and became a dancer in men's clubs after tiring of dead-end minimum-wage jobs. She eventually became owner of the Penthouse Club in Cleveland, which she later sold to Hustler publisher Larry Flynt. Along the way, she earned a bachelor's degree in psychology from Ursuline College in the Cleveland suburb of Pepper Pike. Now living in Naples, Fla., Spencer is executive director of the Association of Club Executives. Spencer accused Burress and company of spiritual hypocrisy. "What they want is a utopian return to the Beaver Cleaver era of the 1950s, a time when there were no women's rights." She said her years as a dancer and club owner were "the most liberating and empowering experience I've ever had."
But flashy dancers and clubs won't be the focus of the repeal campaign.
"This is about the First Amendment," Spencer said. "Adult entertainment is in the front line for freedom. What starts in adult entertainment will trickle down in other forms of media and art." Sandy Theis, spokeswoman for the repeal campaign and a former Columbus bureau chief for The Plain Dealer of Cleveland, said polling shows that the more people know about the strip-club law, the less they like it. "When people hear about this no-touch rule -- if you touch a dancer on the head or the elbow or the toe, you can go to jail for 30 days -- they're astonished."
Jeff Ortega, spokesman for Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, said Citizens for Community Standards submitted a petition containing 382,508 signatures; at least 241,366 valid signatures from at least 44 counties are needed. He said he expects to have help from two influential national organizations -- Focus on the Family, which is led by Dr. James Dobson, and the American Family Association.
In addition, about 2 million inserts will be distributed in church bulletins, and his organization will question candidates on the fall ballot about the issue and post responses on its Web site, ohioelectioncentral.com.
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WTF? Touch a stripper & go 2 jail?
FUCK THAT SHIT!!
DEFEAT THIS STUPID-ASS CAMPAIGN!!!
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