Is There A Constitutional Right To A Orgy?
The city of Duncanville, Tx which is outscirts of Dallas has been drawn in its own little Jerry Falwell style bible strip battle with the founders of a private “swingers club” called “The Cherry Pit“. The Cherry Pit is a private estate tucked in away in an expensive Duncanville residential district. The Cherry Pit promotes on the web and according to announced information invites as many as 120 visitors to a weekend social gathering.
The Cherry Pit has been throwing group orgies where visitors pay a charge for entry and are allowed engage in mosly any sort of sexualgroup sex activity they want on the site. It is the position of the owners that this does not constitute a “business” as the entrance fee is to cover the cost of snacks, drinks etc and not a price for the privilege of engaging in sex from the tame to the “Pulp Fiction” apple in the mouth brand of entertainment…. It is whispered for an extra service fee they will even “bring out the gimp“….(just joking)
This whole thing started backin October of 2006 when after few years of Cherry Pitt neighbors complaining about the crime, parties and “unsavory element” “the pit” was bringing to the neighborhood, the City of Duncanville passed the next decree:
“the operation and maintenance of a club to be unlawful and a public annoyance. Violation of the new order can result in a fine of up to $3,000.”
The city of Duncanville after that decided that the events at the Cherry Pit were more than simply a party of “friends and family” looking for some excitement and resoluted that it was actually a sexually oriented business and subject to the law. The answer of Julie Norris, one of the owners of “The Pit” was as follows:
“I do not know what their classification of a industry is, but to my understanding a business is public – anybody can just walk into it and you have to pay to get in and we are none of that,” Norris said. “I allow gifts. Have you ever had your friends over for a grill and asked everyone to pitch in $5 or bring a dish? That is just what we do. The only condition to get into my house is that a person call and let me know that you are coming and you are on my reservation list.”
Ms Norris continued to state that she believed that the regulation is a guise to harass their way of life and beliefs and that the order regulating the club violated their First Amendment Rights to Privacy.
“It boils down to people want to put their morality into my private territory and I will stand against that,” Norris said. “That is not what the Constitution allows.”
The owners of the Cherry Pit after that counter sued the city claiming the regulation banning swingers clubs violates their solitude and due process rights. They are basically using the same argument under which a right to privacy was found under Roe v. Wade. They have to use this technique in making the right to privacy argument because there is in fact no right to personal privacy spelled out in the Constitution.
The Cherry Pit’s attorney, Edward Kline, said the city tries to regulate private acts in a private house using the public irritation law as a “pretext” to do so….
The Cherry Pitt has remained open while all the legal backbiting has taken place… Just now the City of Duncanville broadened the ordinance meant to shut the club down by making the classification of a adult club more broad and add a local petition process for sex clubs that the town orders to shut down.
***October 29, 2008 A jury found the organizers of the Cherry Pit responsible of illegally operating a sexually oriented business.
So what do you think? Should private citizens be tolerated to “swap pits” at the Pitt without the state getting its’ rocks off?
You obviously can’t do drugs in the seclusion 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 regulate the nude women Texas showing up at the club. They are trying to control the owners of the house in encouraging the “Piters” to engage in sex for a fee at their home…. The state 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 punishment. There is a huge distinction…
Nobody is going to advice you that you should not go down to your local red light block and get a BJ from Sallie the local crack addict or Larry the cross dressing pimp or even take any of sexo de parejas to the Cherry Pit for some entertainment. We surely know nonetheless that the act of handing over a dollar in trade for the BJ makes the otherwise agreeable operation illegal prostitution on one end and the illegal act of soliciting a prostitute on the other end no matter where it happens (in addition to whatsoever other nasty stuff goes with “the other end”). The government has decided that there is a compelling government interest 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 commerce. The Cherry Pit has since been locked. While warnings for the owners stated that the conclusion would be appealed and the statute challenged, it is unclear if either of those was ever pursued.
Tags: adult clubs, adult party, choice, community, constitutional rights, legal rights, orgy, parties, privacy, swingers, texas