Joe Redner

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Joseph R. "Joe" Redner, born c. 1940, is the owner of the Mons Venus, a nude strip club in Tampa, Florida, and is known as the father of the nude lap dance.^[1]

Redner has been engaged in legal battles with the Tampa City Council, which has tried to place restrictions on the strip club industry for 25 years. Mons Venus and Redner have filed suits that have reached the Supreme Court and have become case law in many court cases. Redner ran for County Commissioner as an independent in 2004. Redner's website, The Voice of Freedom, was initially created to inform citizens of his ongoing legal battles with the government, but later expanded to cover other First Amendment issues. He is a host of a weekly, live call-in program of the same name on a local Tampa cable access channel.

In a federal lawsuit filed against Hillsborough County commissioners after they banned the county itself from recognizing gay pride displays,^[2] Redner included the revelation that he is homosexual. In an earlier version of the same suit Redner did not mention his sexual orientation and had previously never mentioned it publicly. His fight against the ordinance has pitted him against local politician Ronda Storms on many occasions.

On March 6, 2007, Redner garnered the number two spot in a six-person race for Tampa City Council, District 1, and faced the incumbent chairperson in a runoff March 27, 2007. Joe Redner lost the election gaining only 44% of the vote.^[3]