Oregon's strippers are lobbying the legislature for better conditions

Portland, Oregon, is known as Pornland in some circles, thanks to its large selection of full-nudity strip clubs. Well, Oregon's strippers don't want your pity or concern, but they would like safer working conditions — so they have hired lobbyists to push for new rules in the state legislature.

In some clubs, "you have entertainers that could injure themselves from broken glass on the stage, poor wiring with the sound system," stripper and strippers' advocate Elle Stranger tells The Associated Press. Stranger and her allies would like strip clubs to be made to adhere to minimum safety and sanitary rules, but they would settle for posters outlining the rights of strippers — most of whom are independent contractors — and a hotline staffed by people who have worked in the exotic-dancing industry. "It doesn't matter if you work in education, clergy, any kind of blue collar work," Stranger says. "The people who do the work know what the work environment needs."

It may be an uphill battle, says AP's Jonathan J. Cooper — not because the legislature is necessarily unsympathetic, but because Oregon's robust free-speech laws mean that lawmakers can't treat strip clubs any differently than other locales that sell food or alcohol. If the legislature were to pass any law, it would have to apply to all live entertainment venues. Read more about the unusual fight at AP.

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