Strippers and members of the LGBTQ+ community held signs and chanted outside the Washington state Capital in Olympia Monday. Photo: Screenshot / KING 5 Seattle
Members of the LGBTQ+ community rallied alongside strippers at the Washington state Capitol earlier this week in support of a bill that would improve working conditions in strip clubs. Senate Bill 6105 would also do away with the statewide lewd conduct regulation that was cited in last month’s controversial raids on several Seattle gay bars.
The bill, known as the “Strippers’ Bill of Rights,” would limit the fees strip clubs can charge dancers, ban local ordinances that mandate the distance between dancers and customers, and require clubs to provide security staffing as well as training for dancers in de-escalating conflicts with customers and preventing sex trafficking.
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Earlier this month, out gay majority floor leader Sen. Jamie Pedersen (D-Seattle) introduced an amendment to S.B. 6105 that would repeal a section of state code prohibiting “lewd conduct” in venues that serve liquor. The rule, enforced by the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board (LCB), was cited in raids on several Seattle LGBTQ+ venues conducted by the LCB and the City of Seattle Joint Enforcement Team (JET) last month.
Speaking on the state Senate floor earlier this month, Pedersen said he hadn’t realized the regulations were still in force and that the raids on the Seattle bars felt like something “from a different era,” the Washington State Standard reported.
The amendment was adopted, and SB 6105 passed in a 29–20 vote on February 7.
But the bill faces skepticism from state House lawmakers, the Oregon Capital Chronicle reports. The state’s prohibition on “lewd conduct” in venues that serve liquor prevents strip clubs from obtaining liquor licenses, so Pedersen’s amendment would provide a pathway for liquor sales in strip clubs. House Speaker Laurie Jinkins (D) has said she will not support the bill if it includes such a pathway.
Supporters of Pedersen’s amendment said that legalizing liquor sales in strip clubs would minimize the pressure clubs put on dancers by providing an increase in revenue. Some dancers gathered at the state Capitol on Monday said that the prohibition does little to protect strippers as customers show up to clubs already drunk.
One stripper told the Chronicle that the state’s “lewd conduct” regulations are symptoms of a society that criminalizes both sex work and the LGBTQ+ community.
“Imagine what it’s like to be spending time with your friends, to be grooving to music, dancing, having a good time, appreciating art and beauty — to have armed agents storm in, to have them take photographs of your friends, shining flashlights on your body,” Chad Swaney, a queer protester said of the January raids. “That is not acceptable.”
