Angry neighbors, zoning board stumped.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: A swingers club in Nashville has skirted angry neighbors and a hostile zoning board by turning itself into a church.
According to Reason.com, the tactic was masterminded by Attorney Larry Roberts, whose client purchased a property for $750,000 last November with the intention of making it home to the Social Club, an “equal opportunity lifestyle organization” that aims to help its members find others who share the “same interest and desires.”
The swingers club found religion after Principal Ricky Perry of the Goodpasture Christian School, which is located nearby, complained about the establishment, claiming it would “pollute” the minds of schoolchildren with “ungodly activity.”
The local zoning board subsequently agreed and passed an emergency zoning resolution in March that legally obstructed Roberts’ client from building on the site, and so, the United Fellowship Center was born.
When Reason.com asked if rebranding the club as a church was intended to skirt the zoning resolution, Roberts smiled and coyly remarked: “Let’s just say it’s opening up to give people guidance.”
Roberts even offered some doctrine that United Fellowship would follow. It’s effectively the Ten Commandments, but with a significant adjustment to the seventh rule: “Do not commit adultery without the knowledge and consent of your spouse.”
According to the Nashville Ledger, patrons of the new church will not be permitted to have sex on the premises, but the venue will most certainly play host to a glut of social events and dances.
Eventually, the United Fellowship Center “will be called upon to prove they’re religious based on common-sense criteria,” said Kathleen Flake, a religious studies professor at University of Virginia. “I think they’re just having some fun at the public’s expense,” she explained to The Ledger.