Group Denied Madison Swingers Club Plans Church In Same Building

[beam me up scottie]

Last edited Thu Apr 9, 2015, 12:35 AM - Edit history (1)

Okay, this is really really good. I've been following this story since it broke a few months back.

Here's the back story: a swingers club tried to open for business in Madison TN but was met with the kind of WILLSOMEBODYPLEASETHINKOFTHECHILDREN righteous indignation you only see here in the south. Oh my dog, you would have thought they were building a vacation resort for child molesters inside of a children's hospital.

Well, they found a way around the new zoning regs; they're creating their own church:

Group Denied Madison Swingers Club Plans Church In Same Building
By Todd Walker. CREATED 10:40 PM

NASHVILLE, Tenn - When Metro Council passed an ordinance earlier this year, which essentially banned a swingers club from moving into an empty office building next to a school and church, the group said it was not going anywhere.

The group currently operates The Social Club based in the Gulch.

Recently filed documents with the Metro Codes Administration show the group "Freedom 4 All, Inc" now plans to renovate the building to be a church called the United Fellowship Center.

"Freedom 4 All, Inc" is the same name on the previous applications to make the building a private club.

Floor plans for both of the applications show minimal changes to the layout.

Room names have been changed. What were originally planned to be the "dungeons" are now the "choir" and "handbell" rooms.

...

The Social Club's website for the United Fellowship Center links to another website called the Institute of Religious Freedom.

In the description the group describes its weekly meetings:

"Join others that may have the same interest and desires as you do.

We all have the FREEDOM to worship as we see fit.

Meeting Every Weekend with other Open and Broadminded Men, Women and Couples."

http://www.scrippsmedia.com/newschannel5/news/Group-denied-Madison-swingers-club-plans-church-in-same-building-299141071.html

"What were originally planned to be the "dungeons" are now the "choir" and "handbell" rooms."





eta info from their website:

Please support tolerance for the Social Club and for our members!

The Social Club was founded in 1980 and has been supported by our members in Nashville and throughout Tennessee. Our 35 years in business is a testament to our commitment to our community, both the people in the Lifestyle and our local neighbors. The members of the Social Club are your friends, co-workers and family members.

The Social Club is meticulous when it comes to following the law and working with state and local officials. We aren’t looking for publicity or notoriety, which is why we don’t have signage—in fact we operated for several years across from a church in Nashville without any problems. Many of our members are parents themselves, and the Social Club is open only at night when the school and church are closed.

The Social Club is just one of hundreds of clubs around the country serving the millions of adults who are non-monogamous and take part in the Lifestyle. The Lifestyle has been the subject of a number of recent TV profiles, including Lisa Ling’s Our America episode “The Swinging Lifestyle” that aired on the Oprah Winfrey Network in 2012. Yet because of the stereotypes, we are persecuted and discriminated against even though we are law-abiding American citizens exercising the same rights to congregate and socialize as everyone else.

Please email the City Council and tell them that you support the rights of consenting adults to gather together in social clubs. Please tell them that you don’t think laws should be changed because of moral prejudices or religious beliefs.

http://thesocialclub.com/editorials/