Is There A Lawful Right To A Orgy?
The town of Duncanville, Texas that is outscirts of Dallas has been drawn in its own little Jerry Falwell type bible strip combat with the owners of a private ”swinger couples club” named “The Cherry Pit“. The Cherry Pit is a private mansion tucked in away in an upscale Duncanville suburban region. The Cherry Pit announces on the internet and according to published information draws as many as 140 guests to a weekly social gathering.
The Cherry Pit has been holding orgy swingers garage party where guests pay a charge for entry and could engage in pretty much any type of sex actions 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 foodstuff, soft drinks etc and not a fee for the benefit of engaging in sex from the tame to the “Pulp Fiction” apple in the mouth brand of entertainment…. It is rumored for an extra service money they will even “bring out the gimp“….(just joking)
The whole thing happened earlierin October of 2006 when past several years of Cherry Pitt neighbors complaining about the offence, traffic and “unsavory element” “the pit” was bringing to the neighborhood, the City of Duncanville approved the following regulation:
“the operation and maintenance of a adult to be unlawful and a public irritation. Violation of the new decree can result in a fine of up to $3,000.”
The city of Duncanville then decided that the parties at the Cherry Pit were more than simply a gathering of “friends and family” seeking some excitement and determined that it was actually a sexually oriented business and subject to the decree. The response of Julie Norris, one of the owners of “The Pit” was as follows:
“I do not know what their classification of a business is, but to my understanding a business is public – anyone can simply walk into it and you have to pay to get in and we are none of that,” Norris said. “I allow contributions. Have you ever had your friends over for a barbecue and asked everybody to pitch in $5 or bring a food? That is just what we do. The only requirement to get into my residence is that anyone 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 way of life and values and that the regulation regulating the club violated their First Amendment Rights to Privacy.
“It boils down to people want to put their principles into my private territory and I am going to stand against that,” Norris said. “That is not what the Constitution allows.”
The owners of the Cherry Pit subsequently counter sued the city claiming the decree banning swingers clubs violates their solitude and due process rights. They are mainly 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 legal advisor, Ed Kline, said the city is trying to regulate private acts in a private house using the public irritation law as a “pretext” to do so….
The Cherry Pitt has stayed open while all the official backbiting has taken place… Only now the City of Duncanville broadened the decree designed to close the club down by making the definition of a swinger club more general and add a local appeal procedure for swinger clubs that the town orders to shut down.
***October 29, 2008 A jury found the owners of the Cherry Pit responsible of illegally operating a sexually oriented company.
So what do you think? Should private citizens be permitted to “swap pits” at the Pitt without the authorities getting its’ rocks off?
You obviously can not do heroin in the seclusion of your house. These things are illegal regardless of where they are engaged in.
Let us also keep this in mind. Duncanville is NOT trying to control the adult dating in Texas showing up at the club. They are trying to regulate the hosts of the club 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 state control. There is a huge distinction…
Nobody is going to tell you that you should not go down to your neighborhood red light block and get a BJ from Mollie the local crack addict or Jimmy the cross dressing pimp or even take any of parejas swinger to the Cherry Pit for some fun. We surely are aware of however that the act of handing over a dollar in exchange for the BJ makes the otherwise agreeable doing 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 stuff goes with “the other end”). The jury has decided that there is a undeniable state concern 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 closed. While advise for the owners stated that the conclusion would be appealed and the statute challenged, it is vague if either of those was ever pursued.