JEFFERSON CITY — New restrictions on sexually oriented businesses in Missouri will take effect Saturday after a judge denied a request to block the law.
Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem said Friday that sexually oriented businesses likely will suffer economic loss as a result of the law. But he says that alone does not affect the legal analysis of the constitutional claims.
Beetem says sexually oriented businesses failed to prove their lawsuit would succeed and that they would face irreparable harm by allowing the law to take effect.
Gene Gruender, owner of Passions in Boonville and Passions in Columbia, was among the plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed Tuesday, Aug. 10, to prevent the law from going into effect, the Columbia Missourian previously reported.
According to the article, Gruender said if the law was to go into effect, he would have to lay off two employees.
He said legislators are “trying to fix problems that don’t exist. Everything they’re trying to fix is already illegal.”
The new law requires strip clubs and adult video and book stores to close by midnight. It bans full nudity, alcohol, minors and touching between semi-nude employees and customers. And it also limits where new sexually oriented businesses can be located.
