Move over Hef, here comes Bobby!
State Rep. Robert “Bobby†Hagan, D-Youngstown, showed up Wednesday in the Ohio House with his “girls†— and for a little while at least, there was some comic relief in the otherwise staid chamber that's dominated by Republicans. Indeed, when Bobby's girls were recognized as guests in the House, they received a round of applause. And why not — that's the closest some of the legislators would have come to exotic dancers — strippers, to you liberal Democrats.
Why Booby's (oops, Bobby's) girls? Because they were his guests — for a debate on one of the most pressing issues in Ohio today: Controlling what goes on between strippers and customers in adult clubs.
Thus, after welcoming the visitors, who wore pink T-shirts emblazoned with “Dancers for Democracy†and who unfurled a banner that read, “Talk is cheap. Speech is priceless,†the House passed a bill that includes a no-touching rule and bans full nudity at clubs after midnight. The 73-24 vote was along party lines. The bill is backed by a conservative Christian group, Citizens for Community Values. It's the same organization that pushed through a constitutional amendment in 2004 banning gay marriage.
Hagan, who spoke out against the legislation with passion and humor, was the man of the hour — at least for the strippers. After the House session, the exotic dancers surrounded him in the hallway to thank him for defending their right to bump and grind. There was some affectionate touching, which prompted Hagan to remind the dancers that the bill passed by the House would prohibit such expressions of gratitude.
I'm surprised the people in Ohio want to pay their police force to enforce something as silly as this. I would rather pay a police force to go catch people robbing banks, killing others, stealing identities, etc. etc. rather than spending time in a strip club observing if a dancers tits violated a spacing distance of a couple of inches. I guess the police in Ohio can bring their flashlights into the strip clubs to keep a better eye on those tits to see if they get too close to a customer. Meanwhile, Joe blow is breaking into someone's home. Sam blow is breaking into someone's car. Mr Smith is stealing someone's credit card all while the people of Ohio worry about those tits getting too close to a guy in a strip club. I guess they got their priorities straight in Ohio.