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Read the CDA Poll

Poll confirms Ohioans support Statewide Regs on Sex Businesses

The poll of 500 Ohioans, with a margin of error of 4.4%, confirmed the following:

by a margin of 65-24%, Ohioans would ask their legislators to vote for provisions similar to those of S.B.16, the Community Defense Act;
by a margin of 60-27%, Ohioans support requiring sexually oriented businesses to close between midnight and 6:00am;
by a margin of 68-23%, Ohioans support mandating that nude or semi-nude employees avoid any physical contact with patrons.

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 7, 2007
CONTACT: David Miller at 513-733-5775

Sex Businesses Attempt Referendum To Take Anti-Crime Law Off Books

Ohio polls show public support for strip bar and porn store regulations.

Cincinnati, OH - Ohio strip bars and porn stores have announced they plan to attempt a referendum of Senate Bill 16, the law recently passed by an overwhelming bi-partisan majority of the state's legislators that places two practical anti-crime regulations on all sexually oriented businesses.

Claiming the law is unconstitutional, the sex business owners hope to convince voters in November that reasonable restrictions to reduce the documented crime linked to their establishments should be removed from the Ohio Revised Code.

Citizens for Community Values (CCV), the organization which sponsored the initiative petition that brought the law before the General Assembly, stands behind the law.

"The law is clearly constitutional," said David Miller, CCV's Vice President for Public Policy. "Numerous court cases attest to that, and our own Governor said that before he let Senate Bill 16 become law, he made sure that it was constitutionally sound in every respect."

As well, throughout the legislative process, CCV says the General Assembly asked for and received assurances that all the provisions of the law they sent to the governor were supported by current case law. "If the courts had not already upheld similar and even more restrictive standards, wouldn't it be easier for opponents to go to court and have it declared unconstitutional?" Miller asked. "Clearly, they know it's constitutional -- and that's why they are taking the referendum route."

CCV acknowledges the constitutional right to take the issue to the ballot, but also questions the logic in doing so. "Based on independent polling done in May, the voters overwhelmingly support these regulations," Miller said. "They would have to be successful in completely misleading the public about this anti-crime law in order to have it voted off the books."

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