A federal judge has denied a group of Dallas strip clubs鈥� request to stop the city from requiring sexually oriented businesses to close between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. daily.
Attorneys for XTC Cabaret, Silver City Cabaret and Tiger Cabaret argued in a suit filed earlier this year the ordinance and the way Dallas police enforce it are unconstitutional. XTC in particular was willing to comply with the ordinance by not operating as a sexually oriented business after 2 a.m. 鈥� which police didn't accept.
U.S. District Judge Jane Boyle ruled Thursday the plaintiffs鈥� claims are unlikely to succeed in a court of law and denied their request for a preliminary injunction more than two weeks after a hearing on the motion.
In her ruling, Boyle said the businesses were sexually oriented regardless of what time of day they stopped operating as such.
鈥淭he Ordinance requires [sexually oriented businesses] to be closed after 2:00 a.m. regardless of the business鈥檚 intended activities," Boyle wrote. "Thus, their conduct clearly falls within the scope of the Ordinance independent of the policy."
The argument that XTC and other clubs aren鈥檛 primarily sexually oriented because they only operate as such some of the time 鈥渟trains credulity,鈥� Boyle said.
鈥淲hether a business is [sexually oriented] depends on its operations generally or its primary purpose, not the nature of its operations during a specific, limited window of time,鈥� she wrote, citing the language of the city鈥檚 ordinance. 鈥淭o allow a business to skirt the requirements of Chapter 41A whenever it is not engaged in the specific activity that renders it an SOB would vitiate the City鈥檚 ability to enforce the law.鈥�
Lawyers for the business owners did not respond to requests for comment Friday morning. The city of Dallas declined to comment due to pending litigation.
The city defines sexually oriented businesses as any establishment where the primary business is to offer services or products, 鈥渋ntended to provide sexual stimulation or sexual gratification to the customer.鈥� That includes adult bookstores, video stores and cabarets.
The city officially began enforcing the curfew Nov. 30. Court documents show Dallas police sent out a notice ahead of time letting XTC, Silver City and other sexually oriented business licensees know they were to close during the required hours or face a 30-day suspension of their license, up to $4,000 in fines and potential criminal charges.
Attorneys for XTC said the club would serve food and non-alcoholic drinks to those who stayed after 2 a.m. and only occasionally put on artistic, nonsexual shows at that time. Police replied that the club would need a new certificate of occupancy to operate as a restaurant. Regardless, XTC would have to close at 2 a.m. because it鈥檚 licensed as a sexually oriented business.
The plaintiffs argued DPD鈥檚 enforcement of the ordinance based on the notice unfairly applies to all businesses with sex-based licenses regardless of the activities they actually put on after 2 a.m.
But even though DPD鈥檚 policy may be inconsistent with the ordinance, the city鈥檚 final policymaker 鈥� the Dallas City Council 鈥� didn鈥檛 sign off on it, so Boyle ruled it鈥檚 not the city鈥檚 actual policy.
This is the second federal challenge to the ordinance since it was first passed in January 2022. The Association of Club Executives of Dallas first requested a judge block the ordinance . The suit alleged the city rule relied on flawed data and targeted strip clubs鈥� First Amendment rights to freedom of expression specifically because they're sexual.
That judge sided with the plaintiffs, which again included Silver City and four other businesses, and temporarily stopped the city from enforcing the ordinance. But the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals , finding the data and studies that linked sexually oriented businesses to crime were indeed valid.
The U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up the case in March.
DPD presented its findings to the city council in 2022 to push for the curfew as a safety measure. Their data showed from 2019 to 2021 police received more calls to sexually oriented businesses between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. than between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m.
Residents told the city council the curfew would threaten jobs and culturally harm the city鈥檚 LGBTQ community.
Casey Wallace, an attorney for the plaintiffs, echoed some of those sentiments at last month's hearing.
鈥淭here鈥檚 hundreds of people, their livelihoods are being affected,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e being put out of work.鈥�
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