I wanted to check out the Power Exchange, a sex club in San Francisco. I want to make sure it’s completely legal, though. Where can I find out about California laws regarding consensual sex? Basically they charge an entrance fee… And they have this slave auction thing. Where you pay money for play money which you bid with… But the money goes to charity and the slaves are guests like everyone else and they aren’t obligated to have sex with the person who won them. What do you think? Legal?
Check here for the California penal code.
http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/calawquery?codesection=pen&codebody=&hits=20
OK, taking up the challenge after reading all 10,000 pages. the best I could come up with was
“316. Every person who keeps any disorderly house, or any house for
the purpose of assignation or prostitution, or any house of public
resort, by which the peace, comfort, or decency of the immediate
neighborhood is habitually disturbed, or who keeps any inn in a
disorderly manner; and every person who lets any apartment or
tenement, knowing that it is to be used for the purpose of
assignation or prostitution, is guilty of a misdemeanor.”
Notice that “assignation” i.e. sex is covered. Basically if the neighbours object, you are probably in for it
“315. Every person who keeps a house of ill-fame in this state,
resorted to for the purposes of prostitution or lewdness, or who
willfully resides in such house, is guilty of a misdemeanor; and in
all prosecutions for keeping or resorting to such a house common
repute may be received as competent evidence of the character of the
house, the purpose for which it is kept or used, and the character of
the women inhabiting or resorting to it.”
I guess that your club could well be a house of ill fame for lewdness
However,these state regulations, as far as sex acts go, do not take precedence over local town and city ordinances as far as I can determine. Therefore, the local city may have well OKayed it
If it were not legal, don’t you think the cops would have shut it down? You could always
call the SFPD & get the real scoop on the laws.
For what it’s worth, they have a web site. It’s an adult site, but you apparently have to join to access most of it.
IANAL, and IANACalifornian, but my guess is that this is a private club for members only, which may give the members some protection under California’s constitutional right to privacy.
Well I work at a “sex club” in Portland, OR so the laws may be radically different but I’m inclined to think most “blue laws” are similar. Long and short of it, it’s not prostitution if you both paid to get in to the club and any on-premises sex is ok if it’s a private club that charges a membership fee and tracks members.
It is incredibly hard to get an establishment zoned which is why the club I work at will never move, it may fold but it will never relocate. But other than zoning laws it completely legal to have a private place where people meet to have sex or whatever.