NEW YORK: Upstate Court Rules That Pole Dancing Is An Art Form

Via the New York Daily News:

There’s no art in the champagne room. Pole dancing is artistic expression — but lap dancing is not, an upstate administrative law judge has ruled. That means a lot of dollars in the garter belt for Albany-area strip club Nite Moves — because it doesn't have to pay sales tax on about $1 million it pocketed in entrance fees between 2005 and 2010. In a ruling made public Friday, state Division of Tax Appeals ALJ Joseph Pinto found the on-stage pole dances count legally as “a place where a performance is given.” “There is a stage for the performers illuminated by spotlights; a dressing room for the dancers, who, at times, wear an array of different costumes; (and) tables and seating that are oriented towards the stage to focus audience attention on the performances;” and featured “choreographed dances,” Pinto wrote. He cited testimony from experts the club had hired, and the “very credible and candid testimony of Alize and Taylor, two of the dancers at Nite Moves.”

It took the state auditor "ten to fifteen visits" to the private champagne room to make his decision on lap dances.

TENNESSEE: Straight Swingers Sex Club Seeks To Incorporate As Church

Via the Associated Press:

A Nashville swingers club has undergone a conversion — it says it's now a church — in order to win city approval so it can open next to a Christian school. The story began last fall, when a fixture in downtown Nashville called The Social Club sold its building and purchased a new one in a run-down office park several miles to the east. The new building is geographically isolated at the end of a dead-end street, but it is near the back of Goodpasture Christian School, a large private school serving pre-school through high school children.

It might have been years before school officials and parents learned what was going on inside The Social Club — its website says it is "a private club for the enjoyment of both men and women ... to engage in any sexual activity" — if someone had not sent anonymous letters to the school president and the local councilwoman. Both say the person who tipped them off claimed to be a concerned club member, although they don't know that for sure.

Parents and religious leaders were called on to pack the Metro Nashville Council chambers to support a zoning change to prevent the club from opening. That's when the club, which had spent $750,000 on the building and begun renovations, suddenly transformed into a church. The United Fellowship Center's plans are nearly identical to those of The Social Club but with some different labels. The dance floor has become the sanctuary. Two rooms labeled "dungeon" are now "choir" and "handbells." Forty-nine small, private rooms remain, but most of them have become prayer rooms.

RELATED: Porno Pete regularly screams about the continuing existence of gay bathhouses in the United States, which currently number fewer than 30. Yet he says nothing about straight sex clubs, which number in the thousands. According to this site, 563 straight swingers clubs are presently in operation across the nation. And then there are the estimated 4000 strip clubs, many of which offer private "champagne rooms" for patrons to have alone-time with the dancers.

TAMPA: Venue For GOProud's Homocon 2012 Hosts Monthly Fetish Sex Parties

Ybor City's Honey Pot, the venue for GOProud's Homocon 2012 event during the GOP convention, also hosts monthly fetish sex parties. Interesting. And we are already know that the Honey Pot is just three gay skips from the "discreet rear entrance" of the local bathhouse, which is offering free admittance to RNC attendees. GOProud's Chris Barron says he doesn't give a fuck what we think about his party in a sex club. Good for him! I wonder if all those uptight wingers will feel the same way once they find out?
(Via AmericaBlog Gay)