Photo: Mitchell Brothers O'Farrell Theatre.
The Exotic Dancers Alliance was formed in May 1993, following a meeting of dancers organised by Dawn Passar and Johanna Breyer at the Market Street Cinema, a San Francisco adult entertainment theatre.
The meeting had been organised in response to concerns over working conditions in strip clubs. Issues raised included mandatory "stage fees" that dancers were obliged to pay in order to work, and health and safety issues.
A series of regular meetings followed and the development of Exotic Dancers Alliance was formed with the intention to advocate for civil, human and labor rights on behalf of exotic dancers and other sex industry workers locally, nationally and internationally, promoting the decriminalisation of prostitution and de-stigmatisation of all sex industry workers.
The Exotic Dancers Alliance was a co-founding organisation of NSWP member group BAYSWAN and was a part ofthe Lusty Lady unionisation effort in 1997, which resulted in the formation of the Exotic Dancers Union. The Alliance was also instrumental in getting Assembly Bill 2509 passed, which made it a violation of California State labor laws for owners to require the payment of “stage fees”, "commissions", or "quotas" from any portion of dancers' tips. The new law amended Section 350 of the Labor Code, inserting new language reading: "Any amounts paid directly by a patron to a dancer . . . shall be deemed a gratuity."
In the September 2004, the Exotic Dancers Alliance ceased activity.
Source: http://www.bayswan.org/eda-sf/