SALEM, Ore. — The Oregon Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional Thursday a state law against live sex shows and a local ordinance that says nude dancers must stay at least 4 feet away from patrons.
Both restrictions violate the Oregon Constitution's guarantee of free expression, the court said in a pair of 5-1 decisions.
Justice Michael Gillette, writing for the majority, said it "appears to us to be beyond reasonable dispute that the protection extends to the kinds of expression that a majority of citizens in many communities would dislike" — including nude dancing.
One case involved a Roseburg club where undercover police paid women to perform sexual activities while the officers watched. The court threw out the club owner's conviction for promoting a live sex show but upheld his conviction for promoting prostitution.
In a dissent, Supreme Court Justice Paul De Muniz said he could not conclude that "masturbation and sexual intercourse in a 'live public show' " is a form of speech that the drafters of the Oregon Constitution sought to protect.
The other case involved a city of Nyssa ordinance that required performers to keep their distance from customers. Owners of Miss Sally's Gentlemen's Club were fined $185 each for violating the ordinance.
Religious conservatives, neighborhood groups and local officials have complained that similar rulings from the high court have led to a thriving sex industry in Oregon.
But voters three times have rejected ballot measures that would have restricted the adult entertainment industry, most recently in 2000, when a measure to allow zoning of sex shops was defeated.