Exotic dancers rally at San Francisco City Hall to halt private-room ban in clubs

The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

There were picket signs, picket lines and protesters imploring motorists to honk for their cause. But all similarities between Friday afternoon's rally in front of City Hall and other political gatherings in San Francisco ended there.

About 50 exotic dancers and other adult club employees gathered to protest outside as the Entertainment Commission heard public testimony on a proposed ban on private rooms and booths at the clubs. The Commission on the Status of Women proposed the legislation on the ban based on interviews with dancers who said sexual assaults have occurred inside the private rooms.

The rally more closely resembled a block party than a protest, with a couple of clowns walking around on stilts, rappers entertaining the crowd and scantily dressed protesters dancing to music pumped through two speakers. And free ice cream.

Despite the festive atmosphere, the dancers were eager to get their message across.

"They feel very strongly about keeping those booths," said Meta Mitchell, a manager at the O'Farrell Theatre that was co-founded by her father, Jim Mitchell. "It's a matter of their livelihood -- they have families to support, mortgages to pay, student loans to pay off. Take away those booths and their incomes are drastically reduced."

San Francisco is a town that really doesn't believe in freedom.