Three young exotic dancers, going by the names Jane Doe I, II, and III, say in a lawsuit that the state of Louisiana is hindering their freedom of expression by not allowing them to dance.
These ladies are all under the age of 21, and the state of Louisiana is trying to pass a law to bar them from stripping. They say that the law is taking away their First Amendment rights.
The law defines strippers as:
“… Entertainers whose breasts or buttocks are exposed to view.”
It fails to prohibit the same conduct for exotic male dancers of the ages 18 to 21.
CBS News reported:
“The Jane Does also claim that the law is already endangering young woman. One plaintiff says she has witnessed pimps and prostitutes trying to use the new law in a New Orleans strip club to ‘recruit entertainers who are now lawfully employed, but who will lose their jobs as a result of the Act.'”
The bill is meant to target and prevent human trafficking. The purpose was lost on the men in the Louisiana legislature who laughed at the bill.
Rep. Kenneth Havard (R-Lafayette) jokingly talked about an amendment saying:
“I have put another age limit on it of no more 28 years of age and shall not be more than 160 pounds.”
The women said:
“… There is no evidence that the act’s age restrictions will have any impact on human trafficking.”
Other lawmakers left these dollars at podium in jest during strip club age debate #lalege pic.twitter.com/D09t8lP6fV
— Rebekah Allen (@rebekahallen) May 18, 2016
Taking away these women’s jobs can cause them to turn to dangerous sex work such as prostitution.
These girls just want to be able to do their jobs. They want to avoid the trial and just get the law overturned. These women have the right to make a legal living.
The plaintiffs say:
“Act No. 395 denies Plaintiffs the ability to engage in protected free expression on the basis of age, and serves no compelling, substantial, or otherwise sufficient government interest permitting or justifying these constitutional violations,” reads the complaint, further arguing that the law “serves no rational basis for discriminating against Plaintiffs on the basis of their age.”
Here are the ladies of The View talking about the lawsuit and complex legalities surrounding this issue:
Featured image by Johnny Silvercloud via Flickr, available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.
