Published in News

Christian wants details about strippers

by on10 November 2014

So he can pray for them

A Washington resident has asked for the personal details of the 70 licences strippers in his town so that he can pray for them. David Allen Van Vleet is apparently obsessed with strippers and is quite convinced that if he has all their personal details he can pray for them.

In September, he filed court papers to obtain personal information on 70 government-licensed nude dancers at a nightclub in his area - including their full names, addresses, photos and dates of birth. Apparently the strippers have to pay the government $75 for permission to take their clothes off and Van Vleet seems to think that this personal information should be make public to people like him. What is a little scary is that the county auditor granted his request under the state's open-records law - although she also notified area dancers and club managers of her action.

On 21 October, two licensees sued to block the release of the information. Two days later a county judge issued a temporary order blocking the release, with a final decision scheduled for 15 December. Needless to say Van Vleet was not happy with the judge's action. He claimed that his rights to know everything about the strippers was more important than theirs. After all, they bared all already, so what details could be more private?

The plaintiffs' lawyer, on the other hand, told the Associated Press that Mr Van Vleet's interests were trumped by his clients's rights. Of course, this means that any stalker or religious nut-job can save themselves the time and effort of hanging around a nightclub’s car-park to off fallen women by having the state give him their name and address. It could also be used to blackmail a stripper, many of whom use stage names, so that their kids can go to schools.

However, it has created a problem for the local press which is worried that the judge's decision could be the first step in permanently weakening the state's open records law.

"It doesn't matter if you think the citizen is annoying or that he might do something irritating with the licence information. There is no constitutional right not to be embarrassed or criticised," the local press thundered.

Of course, the Washington Post's Eugene Volokh points out that a decision supporting Mr Van Vleet could be cited by those who want to access information on licensed gun owners or any other state database.

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