When a Nashville sex club couldn’t get a permit near a school zone, they reformed as a “church,” at least by government standards.
The Social Club, a place where “swingers” would meet, has reorganized as United Fellowship Center, a place where adults can “fellowship.” Can you see the deception?
“We’ve now gotten a permit to meet as a church, and a church is something that cannot be defined under the U.S. Constitution,” says Larry Roberts, the attorney for the organization.
Metro’s zoning official, Bill Herbert, tells the Chicago Tribune they council takes each applicant at it’s word, provided they operate within the zoning codes.
But this is of little comfort to students and parents of Madison, Tennessee’s Goodpasture Christian School.
“I would feel uncomfortable,” ninth-grader Hope Tinsley told a local TV station. “I would feel like most of my friends would probably end up leaving because their parents would take them out and I wouldn’t want to lose them.”
The president of the school, Ricky Perry, spoke of some of the issues: “I think what’s troublesome, No. 1, is just the proximity it is to small children,” and he will do whatever it takes to keep it from opening.
Roberts, though, says he’s prepared for the school’s volley.
“They can sue us and say they want an injunction to stop us from operating, and we can say we have some tenets of the church sort of like the Ten Commandments,” Roberts tells the Washington Post. “Do not steal. Do not lie. Do not cheat. Do not commit any act that will be harmful to others. Do not commit adultery without the knowledge and consent of your spouse—that one’s a little bit different.”
To avoid prosecution, the organization has reportedly created both a fellowship hall and a choir room.
“It’s obvious to me that all they’re trying to do is find another way to legally, or through some loophole, accomplish what they want to do,” the school president says.
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