NEW YORK — A New York City zoning law designed to keep adult entertainment businesses away from schools, churches and residential neighborhoods was deemed unconstitutional by a New York state judge on Thursday.
Justice Louis York of the New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan said a set of amendments in 2001 meant to tighten the city’s regulation of strip clubs, topless bars and adult video and book stores violated the constitutional protections of free speech and were unnecessary.
York said adult establishments today differ from their predecessors by having less garish signage and by segregating their erotica from more mainstream parts of their business, making them less conspicuous to the public.
“These entities no longer operate in an atmosphere placing more dominance of sexual matters over non-sexual ones,” York said, ruling on two lawsuits lodged by a group of adult businesses against the city.
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