By Samantha A. Torrence.
A Texas city has taken action against a swingers club held at a private residence. A group sex room and naked twister are the features at the Friday and Saturday Night parties and it may be against the law.
Duncanville, Texas home to 36,000 residents is host to 50 places of worship, and a swingers club found on Friday and Saturday nights at a private residence on Cedar Street. Over 100 people attend the parties which feature a group sex room and Naked Twister.
The club hosted at Jim Trulock's split-level home is called the Cherry Pit. Here swingers in the area are welcome to gather, which has led to the consternation of many in the upscale neighborhood. The major complaint of the Cedar Street neighborhood home owners is the noise and traffic problems the parties cause. A resident who lives a block behind the Cherry Pit, Jack Martin, is concerned that the parties will reduce his property value.
In response to the complaints the city passed a ban last month on live sex performances that solidified the already "dry" town which does not have a single registered sexually oriented business. The city has already cited Jim Trulock with three violations all of which carry a maximum $2,000 fine. City officials claim that because the Cherry Pit accepts money from its guests and uses it to fund and promote the parties on its website that it is a business.
Trulock contests the city's decision saying that all money received is in the form of donations. The Cherry Pit's attorney, Ed Klein, verifies that although guests are encourage to make donations to cover the costs of food and refreshments, not all guests make them and those who do give $10- $20 dollars. Guests are not charged any admission fees.
"I don't think it's persecution so much as an invasion of their privacy," Klein said.
A New York Law School professor, Arthur Leonard, who studies sexuality law, said the size of the parties might present a legal obstacle.
"It seems to me when you have that number of people involved, it becomes more like a public event," Leonard said. "It seems unlikely that a court would find privacy protection for an event this large."
Swingers attending the party feel as if the town's moral convictions are the real issue behind the law, but have a long road ahead of them if they want to prove its unconstitutionality. A previously made law in Phoenix which effectively banned swinger parties was upheld in a appeals court in 2003.
"It's crazy that they want to force their morality down our throats," said Dawn Burton. "We're all frustrated."
"We're not about infringing on the rights of the Cherry Pit patrons or owners," a city spokeswoman Tonya Lewis said. "But now your right to have fun has infringed on everyone else's. And now you have to draw the line."
