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Poll backing racy sex cited at trial

Countrywide survey forms backbone of swingers' club's defense

Par Charlie Fidelman, The Gazette, 25 mai 2002

A new poll showing society has an increasing tolerance of racy sexual behavior is expected to be a key issue in the trial of a Montreal swingers' club, " We're going to attempt to prove that a swap club is not the same thing as a bawdy house, " said lawyer Martin Joly, who is representing nine of the 15 defendants charged with running or being found in a bawdy house after a 1999 police raid of Brigitte and Michel swingers' bar.

The bar, formerly located at Rosemont Blvd. and Christophe Colomb Ave., has since been replaced by a swingers' spa called Club 1080, which boast Jacuzzi built for 12.

Joly unveiled results of the country-wide poll - commissioned by the swingers' club and conducted by Montreal-based polling firm CROP Inc. in March in municipal court yesterday as the case continued before Judge Denis Boisvert.

The poll of 713 Canadians shows most people- especially Quebecers - are increasingly indifferent to strip shows, porn videos and other sex practices like swapping partners. About 78 per cent of Canadians surveyed, including 90 per cent of Quebecers, said they had no qualms with consenting adults having sex as they see fit in private, the poll shows.

About 64 per cent of Canadians and 76 per cent of Quebecers surveyed had no problem with swing clubs should be closed, 41 per cent of Canadians said yes, compared to 28 per cent of Quebecers.

" Canadians don't care because there's no victim ", " said Jean Hamel, head of the Quebec Swingers Association, which comprises 12 swingers' clubs and 2,200 members. " Where's the crime if it's done in private between consenting adults? " Hamel asked.

The " victimless crime " defense has been argued in other high-profile sex-swap cases, including one involving an Ontario St. Sex club that allowed customers to masturbate in private rooms while watching strippers. Salons et Spectacles Erotiques Pussy Cat owner Jean-Paul Tremblay was found guilty of running a common bawdy house in 1988, but the Supreme Court of Canada acquitted him in September 1993.

As for porn videos, strippers and prostitution, the poll found that Quebecers showed greater tolerance than the rest of Canada by 20 to 30 per cent. The survey has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage point 19 times out of 20.

Psychologist-sexologist Michel Campbell, who teaches at the Université du Québec à Montréal, is to testify on Monday.

The Quebec Swingers Association Web site is at www.aeqsa.com.
Charlie Fidelman's E-mail address is cfidelman@thegazette.southam.ca

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