DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund filed a friend-of-the-court brief this week in the appeal of a federal court decision that declared ordinances prohibiting public nudity and sexual conduct in alcohol-serving Daytona Beach establishments to be unconstitutional. The brief argues that the laws are key to preventing crime and blight in communities, and that the court applied an incorrect and unprecedented evidentiary burden in its analysis that, if upheld, could immediately jeopardize the ability of other American cities to reduce the harmful secondary effects of sexually-oriented businesses.
“City leaders are tasked with protecting the needs and interests of their residents, particularly children, and that is their highest priority,” said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Mike Johnson. “Mixing alcohol with the sexually charged environment of full nudity is a cocktail for problems that communities have a right to refuse. It has been proven time and time again to precede an increase in blight and crime, particularly prostitution and drug use.”
The operators of a sexually-oriented business that serves alcohol and allows performers to appear nude challenged three of the city’s ordinances. Two prohibited nudity and sexual conduct in alcohol-serving establishments; the other was a general public nudity ordinance.
In March, a federal judge declared the ordinances to be unconstitutional. The ruling stated that the city lacked sufficient evidence to justify the ordinances as a means of preventing adverse “secondary effects” in the community.
“The city relied on numerous data to show the harmful effects that these businesses have on a community,” Johnson said. “Legislative findings, supported by police reports, clearly indicated that establishments allowing these salacious activities have contributed to criminal activity. Further, prior court decisions, including
Function Junction v. City of Daytona Beach, have upheld the city’s ordinances.”
ADF filed the friend-of-the-court brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit on behalf of Citizens for Community Values, Florida Family Association, Florida Family Policy Council, Georgia Family Council, National Coalition for the Protection of Children and Families, and The National Law Center for Children and Families.
A copy of the brief filed in
Daytona Grand v. City of Daytona Beach is available at
www.telladf.org/UserDocs/Daytona.pdf.
ADF is a legal alliance defending the right to hear and speak the Truth through strategy, training, funding, and litigation.
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