Sinsations on Emerson Street is one of the businesses suing the state over its entertainer age limit. | Google Maps
Published on July 2, 2024 at 5:19 pm
Two Jacksonville businesses are among four plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit challenging Florida’s new state law limiting anyone under 21 from working in adult entertainment venues.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court’s Northern District of Florida on Monday, the same day the new law, HB 7063, went into effect.
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Sinsations, a strip club in Jacksonville, and Exoctic Fantasies, a Jacksonville store that sells adult toys filed the suit along with Cafe Risque, a strip club near Gainesville, and dancer Serenity Bushey, a former Cafe Risque employee who lost her job when the new law kicked in.
The lawsuit claims the law violates the plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights to express themselves through dancing, is overly broad in its application to adult sex shops and bookstores, and is unconstitutionally vague.
This lawsuit is separate from one that was filed against the city of Jacksonville for its similar 2020 city ordinance that bars dancers under the age of 21 from adult entertainment establishments.
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When the new state law was passed during the 2024 legislative session, co-introducers, including Sen. Clay Yarborough, R-Jacksonville, billed it as a way to fight human trafficking.
The plaintiffs are looking for the courts to overturn this new state law and be reimbursed for their legal costs.
