The undercover detective described the evening in his police report. After Ginger danced onstage at Sands, she allegedly asked the officer if he wanted a private dance. The detective accepted the offer, and reported the dance in detail, saying that Ginger exposed her breasts and butt to him.
"The song ended," Officer Williams' report says. "I paid her $50 for the dance. A short time later the arrest team came in and arrested the subject."
Seattle city law allows dancers to be completely nude, as long as they are on a raised platform and are six feet away from the nearest patron. Once a dancer steps off the stage, the law requires that he or she wear clothing that is at least opaque, and that covers certain parts of the dancer's body. It's unclear if typical dancers' attire, such as G-strings, is prohibited.
Ginger thinks the law, which adult entertainment establishments are required to have posted on signs, is vague and confusing to the dancers.
Her attorney, James Egan, argued in Municipal Court on October 5 that the limitations in the law are too broad, and infringe on dancers' expression rights. His client was arrested for violating a 1988 city law that prohibits dancers from exposing "the breast below the top of the areola or any portion of the pubic region, anus, buttocks, vulva, or genitals."
"They're prohibiting showing any portion of your buttocks," Egan says. "[Buttocks] is a term which sweeps well into permissible conduct that is observed daily in newspaper ads and on beaches."
Nude dancing is a protected form of expression under the Washington State Constitution, and laws that place regulations on expression must be clearly defined.
According to Ginger, most of the women she worked with at Sands received tickets under this law. Offenses can result in a suspended adult entertainment license, and up to $5000 per month in lost income.
"Taxpayers' money is being spent on keeping our butts covered," Ginger says, sipping a chai tea outside a city courtroom last week, waiting for the judge to hear Egan's argument. She does not want her legal name used, to avoid future police harassment at dancing establishments. She wants to return to Sands after the case is over, but for now she is dancing in another county.
"I think the law should be absolutely clear, or it's not fair to people who are in this industry," Egan says.
On October 5, Judge Judith Hightower agreed that the law may be overly broad.
