19-year-old Nude Dancer is Suing Florida Over a Law That Limits the Age of People Who Can Do Adult Entertainment
A 19-year-old nude dancer says that her constitutional rights are being violated by a new law in Florida that raises the age limit for people who can work in adult entertainment companies.
Peaceful Michelle Bushey sued on Monday in the Northern District of Florida U.S. District Court, saying that the rule goes against her right to free speech under the First Amendment. Two businesses that provide adult entertainment are also claimants. One of them is the company that owns the club where Bushey worked.
HB 7063 is a rule that tries to stop human trafficking. It says that adult entertainment businesses can’t hire anyone younger than 21. The bill became law on Monday after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed it in May.
The suit says that companies have had to fire anyone under 21 right away because the bill doesn’t have any kind of “grandfather clause.” Bushey lost her job as a naked singer at Café Risqué because of this.
“In addition to Bushey, at least eight other adult performers who were over the age of eighteen, but under the age of twenty-one, are no longer able to perform at Café Risque because of HB 7063,” it said.
The lawsuit says that the law violates Bushey’s right to free speech by making it impossible for her to make a living from her art. It also says that the state didn’t look at other options that would have helped the state’s goals without violating First Amendment rights.
“Plaintiffs maintain that the human body is a thing of beauty which, when combined with music and rhythmic motion in the form of dance, conveys an important message of eroticism,” it said.
The suit also says that adults of legal age who are not yet 21 cannot work in other jobs that do not involve nude entertainment because of the law.
Sinsations, the company that owns the adult store Exotic Fantasies, joined the lawsuit. It says that the state calls it an adult entertainment business even though it doesn’t offer live entertainment. The store offers adult videos, lingerie, clothes, accessories, and other fun things for adults.
Even though everyone who works at Exotic Fantasies is fully dressed “at all times,” the business still has to follow the law. The suit made the store different from other places of work where pornography could be seen.
“Exotic Fantasies operates what the industry refers to as a ‘percentage store’ because only a modest percentage of its stock constitutes ‘sexually-oriented material,'” it says.
On Tuesday, Kylie Mason, who is in charge of media for the state attorney general, told The Associated Press that the office would stand up for the law.
The office of the attorney general could not be reached for comment on Thursday because of the holiday for the Fourth of July. When I sent an email to DeSantis’ office asking for a reaction, they didn’t answer right away.