Wicked Fun, a Connecticut swingers club near a Baptist church, has been ordered to close its doors following a heated meeting Tuesday night.
The private club in Terryville, which offers members “fun, excitement, and maybe even a little mischief,” recently received a cease-and-desist order over alleged zoning violations.
Town officials say the members-only club falls under the adult-use business category and is therefore required to be at least 1,000 feet away from a church.
The club shares both a property line and a parking lot with the Riverside Baptist Church.
The order, issued on March 28, directed the club to shut down within 10 days. However, club owner Steve Gagne appealed the order, saying Wicked Fun should not be classified as an adult-use business.
“We have well-dressed people, professionals who come to our club, and they socialize and have a good time,” Gagne said, according to NBC Connecticut. It’s just “consenting adults having a good time doing nothing, nothing wrong.”
On Tuesday, around 100 people showed up at the Plymouth Town Hall for a Zoning Board of Appeals meeting. Members of the church and supporters of the club took turns speaking in the “heated” session, which went on for hours, according to the local CBS affiliate WFSB.
Gagne was hoping that a “strong turnout from supporters who believe in fairness, free expression, and legal transparency” would help members of the board side with the club.
Riverside Baptist Pastor David Townsley told WTNH the club has “impacted the town negatively,” while parishioners called on the board to reject the challenge.
“I urge you to deny the appeal and send a message that this kind of lawlessness — and that’s what it is — will not be tolerated in any Connecticut town,” one person said at the meeting.
Club co-owner Jodi Gagne, Steve Gagne’s wife, pushed back on that claim, arguing that the club doesn’t feature “topless dancers, strippers, male or female impersonators, or other entertainers for observation by patrons” and therefore should not be considered an adult-use business.
“At our club, we do not put on a show — there are no dancers, there are no strippers,” she said.
At the end, the board unanimously voted to deny the appeal, and the club was immediately forced to close its doors.
Gagne, however, hasn’t given up the fight. He vowed to sue the town and said he plans to keep challenging the decision.
