Law Discussion
Comment1
The law is unconstitutional given that it impedes the 1st amendment rights on Freedom of Speech and dressing.
Comment 2
The law also has some elements of sexist bias in that its description of Sexually Explicit Entertainment seems to mostly victimize the females than the males.
Comment 3
The Bar owner did nothing wrong by being ingenious during revenue hunting.Legality of the Bar’s OperationsThe issue of legality of wearing bikinis while selling alcohol in a bar is purely a question of interpretation depending on the jurisprudential inclinations of the person construing the statutes alongside the facts. It is clear that the City of Providence enacted two ordinances in 1991 and 1994 barring any form of adult entertainment in places which are three miles outside the zoning of the city.
However, two concepts from the facts of this case are not clear though. First is whether the bar is situated at a place three miles from the zoning limits imposed by the ordinances. The second is an interpretative question about whether posing with bikinis and short skirts in a bar amounts to sexually explicit entertainment.The answer to the question on which argument is right greatly hinges on the second question because even if the bar is located outside the city and the conduct of the waitresses does not amount sexually explicit entertainment,; culpability cannot be apportioned in any way. The1991 Ordinance implies that any commercial establishment in which any of the staff exposes human genitals, pubic regions, buttocks, anus, or female breasts below a point immediately above the tops of the areolae for viewing by patrons is said to be providing Sexually Explicit Entertainment.Therefore in this case, depending on the heights of exposure of the bikinis, this can be easily construed as Sexually Explicit Entertainment and since the owner does not have a license, they are in breach of the Ordinance. Therefore, from a legal point of view, the neighbors and the city are right
References
Hopkins, W W. Mr. Justice Brennan and Freedom of Expression. New York: Praeger, 1991. …
