CHESAPEAKE, Va. — Starting July 1, the dancers at J.B.’s Gallery of Girls and Headlights will be making an addition to their scant wardrobes.
Pasties that cover a portion of a woman’s breast will return on that date, provided Gov. Tim Kaine signs into law legislation intended to respond to a federal court ruling.
The ruling in August found that a Virginia law prohibiting lewd conduct at establishments with liquor licenses was unconstitutional and too broad.
The challenge was brought by six South Hampton Roads nightclubs repeatedly cited.
As a result, the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control asked for legislation to “restore the status quo with respect to the regulation of nudity and sexually oriented behavior” in licensed establishments, according to state documents.
Buddy Brown, owner of the two Chesapeake adult clubs, saidhis business increased after the federal court ruling and his dancers shed their tiny tops.
Delegate John A. Cosgrove, Chesapeake Republican, sponsored the bill to get the pasties back on the dancers.
“The law had really never changed,” he said. But once the judge prohibited ABC agents from enforcing it, club owners “just knew they could get away with it,” he said.
A modified version of Mr. Cosgrove’s bill was approved by the General Assembly.
The bill says a business can have its mixed-beverage license suspended or revoked if there is “entertainment commonly called stripteasing, topless entertaining, or entertainment that has employees who are not clad both above and below the waist.”
Mr. Brown contends this part of the bill is unfair.
“Who’s to say striptease isn’t artistic?” he asked.
He said his dancers will comply if Mr. Kaine signs the bill, though he might challenge it.
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