In 2006 when I started dancing in Oregon, indoor smoking was legal and everywhere. I complained about it one day in the dressing room. Multiple strippers began berating me. They told me that if I didn’t like smoking, I shouldn’t be a stripper. Indoor smoking in Oregon strip clubs became illegal a couple of years later. I was thrilled. Every place I worked at complied. Other states followed.

I worked at a place in Colorado that had some special license to allow indoor smoking. Tennessee clubs in certain places still allow indoor smoking. In these instances, the businesses are operating legally with indoor smoking. Hopefully one day, it will be illegal for them too. I expect they will comply, because that’s what businesses do with smoking bans if they don’t want to get shut down. I support enforcing these bans wholeheartedly.

Illinois is a weird state in terms of corrupt politicians, two-party consent audio recording, and the conservative redneck culture in the Central and Southern parts of the state that are at odds with Chicagoland. Chicagoland businesses I’ve been to always comply with indoor smoking bans.

I tried working at Country Rock Cabaret in Sauget, Illinois in December of 2019. It was fucking disgusting. One of the disgusting things about that place that surprised me was their unwillingness to comply with the Illinois smoking ban. My lungs were in pain and my respiratory system suffered. Smoking bans are absolutely worker rights issues.

At The Pony in McClure, they did not comply with the smoking ban either. However, they didn’t want to have ash trays sitting around, just in case the wrong authorities came in there. It was the bartender’s assigned task to fill little plastic ketchup holders with water half-way, then put them on each table. Customers were to put out their cigarettes in the water of the plastic ketchup holders. It was Pony’s weird discreet way around being obvious in their failure to comply with the smoking ban. My lungs, beautiful pure voice and beautiful face suffered with all this smoke in the workplace.

I reported Country Rock Cabaret and The Pony to the health department and other Illinois government agencies. Do you know if these places were ever held accountable for failure to comply with the smoking ban after I reported them? Please contact me. I’d like to know.

Here is a helpful website about smoke-free Illinois.