19-Year-Old Nude Dancer Sues Florida Over Law Restricting Age in Adult Entertainment Businesses
A 19-year-old nude dancer claims a new Florida law that raises the age limit for those who can be employed by adult entertainment businesses infringes on her constitutional rights.
Serenity Michelle Bushey filed a federal lawsuit Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, claiming the law violates her First Amendment right to free speech. Two adult entertainment companies, including the corporation that owns the club where Bushey worked, are also plaintiffs in the lawsuit.
The law, HB 7063, aims to prevent human trafficking and includes a ban on employing anyone under 21 in adult entertainment businesses. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the bill in May, but it only went into effect on Monday.
According to the lawsuit, the lack of any kind of “grandfather clause” in the bill forced these companies to fire anyone under the age of 21 immediately. As a result, Bushey lost her job as a nude performer at Café Risque.
“In addition to Bushey, at least eight other adult entertainers over the age of eighteen but under the age of twenty-one are no longer permitted to perform at Café Risque because of HB 7063,” the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit claims the law violates the right to free speech by restricting Bushey from practicing his art and earning a living, adding that the state failed to consider alternatives that would advance the state’s interests without burdening his First Amendment rights.
“Plaintiffs maintain that the human body is a thing of beauty that, when combined with music and rhythmic movements in the form of dance, conveys an important message of eroticism,” the lawsuit says.
The law also bars adults over 21 from working in jobs other than nude entertainment, the lawsuit says.
A corporation called Sinsations, which owns an adult store called Exotic Fantasies, filed the lawsuit claiming it is labeled an adult entertainment business by the state, even though it does not engage in live entertainment. The store sells adult videos, lingerie, clothing, accessories and other adult novelty items.
Although all employees at Exotic Fantasies are fully clothed “at all times,” it is subject to the same law. The lawsuit distinguished the store from the type of business where pornography may be viewed on the premises.
“Exotic Fantasies operates what the industry calls a ‘percentage store’ because only a modest percentage of its inventory constitutes ‘sexually oriented material,'” the lawsuit says.
Kylie Mason, communications director for the state attorney general, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the office would defend the law.
NBC News was unable to reach the attorney general’s office on Thursday due to the July 4 holiday. An email seeking comment from DeSantis’ office was not immediately returned.
