Joseph R. Redner (born 1940 in

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

) is the owner of the Mons Venus, a nude strip club in

Tampa Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, and is known as the father of the nude lap dance. Redner has been engaged in legal battles with the

Tampa City Council The Tampa City Council is the legislative body of the municipal government of the U.S. city of Tampa, in Hillsborough County, Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the ...

, 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 2006. During that run Redner had a chair thrown at him on the ''Bleepin Truth LIVE'' in a debate with a Republican pundit. The clip from the show was carried on 300 TV stations across the country, giving Redner a tremendous boost in name recognition in the process. 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 TV program entitled ''First Freedom TV'' on Tampa Bay Community Network (TBCN.org), a local Tampa Bay area

Public, educational, and government access Public-access television is traditionally a form of non-commercial mass media where the general public can create content television programming which is narrowcast through cable television specialty channels. Public-access television was crea ...

(PEG)

cable TV Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with broadc ...

channel. In a

federal Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

lawsuit - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...

filed against Hillsborough County commissioners after they banned the county itself from recognizing gay pride displays, Redner included the statement that he is gay. 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 Ronda R. Storms (born Ronda Rehnell Newcomb on September 5, 1965) is an American politician representing her adopted home state of Florida. Affiliated with the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, she represented the 10th District ...

on many occasions. Mons Venus and Redner won a large verdict in an

eminent domain Eminent domain (United States, Philippines), land acquisition (India, Malaysia, Singapore), compulsory purchase/acquisition (Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, United Kingdom), resumption (Hong Kong, Uganda), resumption/compulsory acquisition (Austr ...

case when property was taken for a freeway. 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 44% of the vote. Redner has appeared on ''

Live Prayer ''Live Prayer'' is a Christian evangelical Internet and television ministry located in Tampa, Florida, founded and operated by Bill Keller. The ministry began in 1999 as a website featuring a daily devotional written by Keller and offers to accept ...

'' to debate his beliefs and defend his business.

Medical marijuana case

In 2018, Redner made headlines again when he sued the Florida Department of Health for the right to grow his own marijuana. Redner is in remission from

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...

, and his doctor recommended hemp juice as part of his treatment. Florida passed medical marijuana via a

constitutional amendment A constitutional amendment is a modification of the constitution of a polity, organization or other type of entity. Amendments are often interwoven into the relevant sections of an existing constitution, directly altering the text. Conversely, t ...

in 2016, but juicing is not one the methods approved by that law, so Redner sued to be able to grow and juice his own. On April 17, 2018, the judge in the case lifted a stay which will allow Redner to begin growing marijuana while the case proceeds, a decision the Department of Health said it plans to appeal.

References

External links

'Voice of Freedom'Joe Redner for State Senate
{{DEFAULTSORT:Redner, Joe 1940 births Living people Businesspeople from Tampa, Florida American LGBT businesspeople American entertainment industry businesspeople Strip club owners