Legalities and BDSM Events

by Tatu

Aug 15, 2001

Disclaimer: I am not an attorney. This is a collection of observations from a number of years in the scene, working with organizations, and discussion with a several 1st amendment attorneys.

August 11, 2001, the TES 30th anniversary celebration was raided by New Jersey State Police. At issue was a S/M play party taking place in a venue that hold a state liquor licence. Event promoters thought they had done all their homework and covered all the bases in preparing for this event.

Unfortunately, the way things are in our system of laws is that we never really know if we are going to walk through a trip wire. Police agencies can basically do what ever they want to do. It is then up to the poor citizen to empty his wallets to defend himself often correcting the police mistake.

Such is the case with general morals laws on the books in many states, generally referred to as "lewd and lascivious" behavior.

TES organizers at first reported that they ran everything by local police agencies and the local district attorney's office in an effort to be up front and not cause any legal problems, but this turned out to not be true.

The fly in the ointment this time was not local authorities, but state of New Jersey Police investigating on behalf of the state Alcohol Beverage Control Board. It seems in New Jersey, that wherever there is a liquor license involved, nudity is prohibited. Well, no liquor was being served. Police officials contended that it did not matter that the facility holds a license and therefore must abide by the no nudity regulation.

Floridians discovered this same regulation a few years back, when Broward Sheriff's officials raided a couple of swingers clubs. One, Athena's Forum got shut down and numerous lewd and lascivious citations were issued to individuals who were observed in what undercover officers called "lewd" behavior.

On the other hand Trapeze III, is a "bottle club", in other words, no liquor is sold, patrons bring their own, and the action was overturned in court and now the owners have a nice multimillion dollar lawsuit action against Broward County.

Another way groups screw up, is by not getting the proper licensing for their event or facility. One business a few years back, called ALCH, tried to skirt the laws by fraudulantly getting a license for their facility as a "Janitorial Supply Warehouse". This was all local police needed to shut the place down.

Another dungeon establishment tried to get around zoning laws, by doing a lot of interior work after they got their "certificate of occupancy". A normal visit by the Fire Marshall, saw it all come tumbling down, as he saw a lot of walls, etc that were not on the site plan certified by the C.O.

It all goes to say, that as a community worldwide, we must continue to be vigilant as to how to peacefully co-exist with policing agencies. TES and New Jersey state police were a model to us all, as they communicated and negotiated into the wee hours Saturday morning. The police had no desire to confiscate anything or shut any thing down, as they sensed the desire on the part of TES officials to do the right thing given the circumstance.

As more and more groups are throwing play parties, here are some things to think about:

1. Consult your 1st amendment /civil rights attorney.

2. If you are hosting a private party in your home, do not charge money to enter. You may be breaking zoning rules and inviting police to come investigate. Your problems could multiply if you have alcohol available/ or served at your home party and you charged money for people to get in. You may be guilty of several felonies.

If you are having alot of friends over for an organized play party in your home, just ask everyone to bring a dish and/or a liter of a soft drink.  You very well could get yourself in trouble legally if you profit any way.

3. If you host a commercial event, and will charge money for entrance, you are probably wise to seek a facility that does not have a liquor license, even if you are not going to have it sold at your event.

4. Also commercial endeavors should get the proper licensing. To not do so just invites constabularies to have an excuse to visit your party.

4. Bottle clubs in some states are the way to go in order to be legal. It may even be legal to have full nudity, and even open sexual behaviors that involve penetration. This is the route most of your "private members only" swingers clubs take and for the most part stay out of trouble.

5. Support and education groups probably need to be legal not for profit corporations of your respective state. If those support groups host a play party, it should not substantially profit the organization. Many will host demos and then practice or workshop time to help members with their knowledge and safety.

6. Refer to #1.

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