By Request: Public Nudity in Schenectady

[RealityChuck]

Lissa asked me to elaborate on a statement I made in General Questions:

The courts threw out the law and for a year or so there was no law against nudity anywhere in the city [of Schenectady]

It happed in 1997. The city tried to have a public nudity ban; a part of the “clean up the community” drive by the new mayor (who admitted having visited strip clubs in the past). Trouble was, in addition to the strip clubs, there was Proctor’s Theater, a legitimate theater that occasionally had shows in which performers appeared in the nude (e.g., Momix dance troupe). The law banned nudity in several strip clubs, while exempting Proctors. The strip club owners sued, and in the precedent setting case “Nakotomi Investments, Inc. v. City of Schenectady,” the court ruled that the law was unconstitutional.

@Summary

Nakatomi Investments Inc. v. City of Schenectady, No. 94-CV-1226 (N.D. N.Y. Jan. 7, 1997). An ordinance, targeted seven establishments based on their distasteful, erotic message, banned nudity in any cabaret, dance hall, bar, tavern, lounge, discotheque, or restaurant. This ordinance violated the First Amendment rights of the operators of clubs featuring nude dancing. The court found no plausible distinction justifying disparate treatment by allowing nude dancing at a theater or the opera by prohibiting it in the seven establishments.

So, for several years, there was no law against a nude performances.

Eventually, something was passed that managed to be constitutional. But it had side effects. The new law no longer exempted Proctors, so when they had a production of The Full Monty – well, it wasn’t.

[Lissa]

Did anyone take gross advantage of it? Any productions of All-Nude Macbeth?

[Billdo]

All-Nude Macbeth

Is this a dagger which I see before me,
The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.

:dubious:

[RealityChuck]

Nude opera would never work, since no one would stay to see the fat lady sing.