Is There A Legitimate Right To A Swing Party?
The town of Duncanville, Tx which is neighborhood of Dallas has been involved in its own petite Jerry Falwell style bible belt fight with the owners of a secret “adult club” named “The Cherry Pit“. The Cherry Pit is a private manor tucked in away in an expensive Duncanville suburban community. The Cherry Pit promotes on the web and according to published information invites as many as 130 guests to a weekend gathering.
The Cherry Pit has been throwing hot orgies where visitors pay a charge for entry and are allowed engage in almost any sort of sex actions they want on the site. It is the position of the hosts that this does not constitute a “business” as the entrance fee is to cover the expence of foodstuff, soft drinks etc and not a cost for the privilege of engaging in sex from the tame to the “Pulp Fiction” apple in the mouth brand of entertainment…. It is rumored for an additional service money they could even “bring out the gimp“….(just joking)
The whole bru ha ha started earlierin November of 2007 when after some years of Cherry Pitt neighbors complaining about the crime, traffic and “unsavory element” “the pit” was bringing to the area, the City of Duncanville approved the subsequent regulation:
“the operation and maintenance of a adult to be unlawful and a public nuisance. Violation of the new order can result in a fine of up to $3,000.”
The city of Duncanville after that decided that the gatherings at the Cherry Pit were more than simply a party of “friends and family” looking for some enjoyment and resoluted that it was in fact a sexually oriented commerce and subject to the ordinance. The response of Julie Norris, one of the founders of “The Pit” was the following:
“I don’t know what their classification of a industry is, but to my understanding a business is public – anybody can simply walk into it and you shall pay to get in and we are none of that,” Norris said. “I accept donations. Have you ever had your friends over for a barbecue and asked everyone to pitch in $5 or bring a bowl? That is precisely what we do. The only requirement to get into my residence is that you 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 order is a excuse to assault their lifestyles 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 ethics into my personal dwelling and I will stand against that,” Norris said. “That is not what the Constitution allows.”
The owners of the Cherry Pit then counter sued the city claiming the ordinance banning sex clubs violates their solitude 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 scheme in making the right to privacy argument because there is basically no right to personal privacy spelled out in the Constitution.
The Cherry Pit’s legal representative, Edward Klain, said the city is trying to regulate private acts in a private dwelling using the public irritation law as a “pretext” to do so….
The Cherry Pitt has stayed open while all the official wrangling has taken place… Only now the City of Duncanville broadened the ordinance intended to lock the club down by making the explanation of a sex club more broad and add a local petition process for sex clubs that the city orders to shut down.
***October 29, 2008 A jury proclaimed the owners of the Cherry Pit accountable of illegitimately operating a sexually oriented company.
So what you do think? Should private citizens be allowed to “swap pits” at the Pitt without the government getting its’ rocks off?
You obviously can not do heroin in the privacy of your property. These things are illegal regardless of where they are engaged in.
Let us as well keep this in mind. Duncanville is NOT attempting to order the Texas swinger personals meeting showing up at the venue. They are trying to order the hosts of the place in cheering 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 state management. There is a big difference…
No one is going to tell you that you cant go down to your neighborhood red light area and get a blowjob from Kathie the local crack addict or Jimmy the cross dressing pimp or even take any of grupos swingers to the Cherry Pit for some fun. We surely know nonetheless that the act of handing over a dollar in exchange for the blowjob makes the otherwise consenting step illegal prostitution on one end and the illegal action of soliciting a prostitute on the other end no matter where it happens (in addition to whatsoever other grose action goes with “the other end”). The government has decided that there is a forceful state awareness to adjust 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 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.