Florida stripper who lost her job because of new age restriction law sues state

“The ban on artists under the age of twenty-one is not narrowly targeted and does not advance the government’s purported interests to a degree proportionate to the burden of free speech,” the plaintiffs argue.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — A 19-year-old stripper is suing Florida, claiming a new state law raising the age requirement for her profession not only caused her to lose her job but also violated her constitutional rights.

The law, which went into effect Monday, requires that anyone working at strip clubs and other adult entertainment venues be at least 21 years old. Employers who violate the rules could face criminal penalties.

The lawsuit, filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, also names strip clubs and a lingerie store.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said when he signed the bill (HB 7063) earlier this year that it would combat human trafficking. But the plaintiffs deny any connection between human trafficking and their facilities.

“The ban on performances by artists under the age of twenty-one is not narrowly targeted and does not serve the government’s alleged interests to a degree proportionate to the burden it places on free speech,” they argued.

Who is suing and why?

Serenity Michelle Bushey was a nude dancer at Café Risque, a strip club near Gainesville in Alachua County. Because she is 19, she is now unemployed, as are at least eight other people at her previous workplace, according to the lawsuit.

Bushey believes this violates her First Amendment right to free speech.

“Like similar performers throughout the state, Bushey made her living performing art while providing entertainment for the benefit and pleasure of her audience,” the complaint reads. “Plaintiffs argue that the human body is a beautiful thing that, when combined with music and rhythmic movement in the form of dance, conveys an important erotic message.”

The corporation that runs Café Risque is also suing. As is the company that runs Sinsations, a strip club in Jacksonville, Florida.

In their lawsuit, both parties said they not only employed adult dancers under 21, but also cooks, waitresses, bartenders, DJs and security guards. They also believe the law prohibits them from hiring anyone under the drinking age, even for tasks such as air conditioning repair.

Exotic Fantasies in Jacksonville has the same concerns, although it is not a strip club. It not only sells lingerie but also a “modest amount” of adult films and sex devices, according to the lawsuit. It does not offer any live entertainment or film screenings and does not allow what it sells on its premises.

However, because it is subject to state law deeming it an “adult entertainment establishment,” it cannot employ adult workers under the age of 21, even though it has done so in the past and says it plans to do so in the future.

“Café Risque, Sinsations, and Exotic Fantasies have the right to select adult employees and staff to assist in the dissemination of their speech, regardless of age,” argued the plaintiffs, represented by Gainesville First Amendment attorney Gary Edinger.

They charge that the law violates their First Amendment rights to free speech and association.

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“(It) is not narrowly tailored, and the Legislature did not even contemplate a less restrictive form of regulation, (and) it unreasonably burdens speech without furthering any measurable governmental interest,” they wrote. “Plaintiffs have the right to associate with adults of their choosing, including the right to employ and contract with those adults.”

They also argue that the bill is overly broad and unconstitutional because it applies not only to strip clubs but also to places like Exotic Fantasies, and is unconstitutionally vague.

They further accuse her of violating the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, writing that she “unreasonably permits adult entertainment establishments to accept adults under the age of twenty-one as patrons while excluding performers, contractors, and employees of comparable age.”

Under the law, employers who “knowingly” hire workers under the age of 21 in adult entertainment venues will face criminal penalties. Those penalties could range up to a second-degree felony, punishable by up to 15 years in prison if the employee performs nude.

However, the text also emphasises that “a person’s ignorance of another person’s age or misrepresentation of his or her age cannot be raised as a defence in criminal proceedings.”

“(This) allows for conviction and imprisonment even where the accused has made every effort to establish the true age of the applicant but the applicant has thwarted those efforts by skillful fraud and deception,” the lawsuit reads.

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody and two state attorneys general, Brian Kramer and Melissa Nelson, are named as defendants. They are responsible for enforcing the challenged law.

Kramer’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment; Nelson’s office said it does not comment on pending litigation. However, Moody’s spokeswoman Kylie Mason said in an email, “We have not received a response but will defend the law.”

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A similar case also goes to court

The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is expected to rule soon on a Jacksonville dancers’ age-restriction ordinance, a decision that could set a First Amendment precedent for regulating expression based on age — and a decision that could potentially overturn such restrictions, as previously reported by USA TODAY Network-Florida.

During the Jacksonville trial, it emerged that “the exotic dance venue has never made an arrest for human trafficking” in the city, according to court documents. A federal judge nonetheless upheld the ordinance, which remains in effect pending an appeals court decision.

“The State has failed to consider any evidence or research supporting the view that human trafficking is associated with adult entertainment establishments or that human trafficking is more common in such establishments,” the plaintiffs wrote in the latest lawsuit. “Or, to the extent such information was considered, it consisted of poor data that is insufficient to support the government’s alleged interests.”

But advocates of the law say businesses like strip clubs are hotbeds for human trafficking, especially of young women. Some have made it clear that combating human trafficking is not the only goal.

“My vision for young women in Florida is not to work in the adult entertainment industry, but rather to have a job, an education, a career, and a good quality of life,” Florida Rep. Carolina Amesty, a Republican from Windermere and the bill’s sponsor, said at a bill-signing event.

This report is supported by a partnership with Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. USA Today Network-Florida First Amendment reporter Douglas Soule can be reached at [email protected].