Is There A Constitutional Right To A Swing Party?
The municipality of Duncanville, Tx which is outscirts of Dallas has been involved in its own little Jerry Falwell manner bible belt fight with the founders of a privileged ”swinger couples club” named “The Cherry Pit“. The Cherry Pit is a private house tucked in away in an upscale Duncanville residential district. The Cherry Pit announces on the internet and according to published information draws as many as 120 adults to a weekend party.
The Cherry Pit has been organizing amateur orgy parties where visitors pay a charge for entry and are allowed get involved in almost any kind of sex actions they want on the premises. It is the position of the owners that this does not constitute a “business” as the entrance charge is to cover the expence of food, drinks etc and not a price for the benefit of engaging in sex from the tame to the “Pulp Fiction” apple in the mouth brand of entertainment…. It is said for an extra service money they will even “bring out the gimp“….(just kidding)
This whole thing started earlierin October of 2007 when past several years of Cherry Pitt neighbors complaining about the crime, parties and “unsavory element” “the pit” was bringing to the area, the City of Duncanville passed the following order:
“the function and maintenance of a swinger to be against the law and a public annoyance. Violation of the new regulation will result in a fine of up to $2,000.”
The city of Duncanville then decided that the gatherings at the Cherry Pit were more than just a meeting of “friends and family” seeking some excitement and determined that it was in fact a sexually oriented industry and subject to the ordinance. The reaction of Julie Norris, one of the founders of “The Pit” was the following:
“I don’t know what their meaning of a industry is, but to my understanding a business is public – anyone can just walk into it and you shall pay to get in and we are none of that,” Norris said. “I accept contributions. Have you ever had your buddies over for a barbecue and asked everybody to pitch in $10 or bring a bowl? That is precisely what we do. The only requirement to get into my house is that anyone call and let me know that you are coming and you are on my reservation list.”
Ms Norris went on to state that she understood that the ordinance is a guise to harass their way of life and values and that the rule regulating the club violated their First Amendment Rights to Privacy.
“It boils down to people want to put their principles into my own dwelling and I am going to stand against that,” Norris said. “That is not what the Constitution allows.”
The founders of the Cherry Pit afterward counter sued the city claiming the decree banning swingers clubs violates their privacy and due process rights. They are mostly using the same argument under which a right to privacy was found under Roe v. Wade. They have to use this method in making the right to privacy argument because there is actually no right to personal privacy spelled out in the Constitution.
The Cherry Pit’s legal advisor, Ed Klain, said the city tries to regulate private acts in a private home using the public nuisance law as a “pretext” to do so….
The Cherry Pitt has remained open while all the legal squabbling has taken place… Just today the City of Duncanville broadened the rule intended to lock the club down by making the classification of a sex club more general and add a local plea procedure for adult clubs that the town orders to shut down.
***October 29, 2008 A jury proclaimed the founders of the Cherry Pit accountable of unlawfully operating a sexually oriented business.
So what do you think? Should private citizens be allowed to “swap pits” at the Pitt without the authorities getting its’ rocks off?
You obviously can not do cocaine in the privacy of your house. These things are illegal regardless of where they are engaged in.
Let us as well keep this in mind. Duncanville is NOT trying to control the hot wives in Texas showing up at the venue. They are attempting to order the owners of the club in allowing the “Piters” to engage in sex for a fee at their home…. The government is NOT regulating where and with whom you can have sex with. They are telling the owners of the Pit that if they are charging you to do it, they are subject to government management. There is a vast distinction…
Nobody is going to advice you that you should not go down to your local red light block and get a blowjob from Sallie the local crack addict or Bobby the cross dressing pimp or even take any of parejas swinger to the Cherry Pit for some entertainment. We of course are aware of however that the act of handing over a dollar in exchange for the BJ makes the otherwise agreeable step illegal prostitution on one end and the illegal operation of soliciting a prostitute on the other end no matter where it happens (in addition to whatsoever other nasty doing goes with “the other end”). The state has decided that there is a undeniable government concern to control and/or criminalize such acts…
***October 29, 2008 A jury found the owner of the Cherry Pit guilty on 10 counts of running a sexually oriented company. The Cherry Pit has since been locked. While advice for the owners stated that the conclusion would be appealed and the statute challenged, it is uncertain if either of those was ever pursued.
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