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Austin tries to close male strip club

AUSTIN, Texas, July 15 (UPI) -- Officials in Austin, Texas, are trying to close down a male strip club that caters to women, arguing that LaBare lives up to its name.

The club's owner, Kevin Cox, told the Austin American-Statesman the dancers do not go beyond the topless stage, with boxers or briefs covering their genital areas. He describes the dance routines as fantasies in which the strippers do standup comedy or dress up as firefighters or police officers.

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But city officials say some of the routines imitate sex acts and the men sometimes bare their rear ends. Because the club is within 1,000 feet of the Texas School for the Deaf and Town Lake Park, that would be illegal.

Cox has court appearances later this month to answer a criminal complaint and to fight a civil action aimed at closing the club.

Jeffrey Kelly, Cox's lawyer, says many nearby businesses trade on sex without violating the law, like Hooters, which has a suggestive name and waitresses in revealing outfits.

"We may be sexually suggestive, but we aren't a sexually oriented business," Kelly said.

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