Nashville sues to shut down Madison sex swingers club that calls itself a church

Joey Garrison | The Tennessean

Show Caption Hide Caption Metro sues The Social Club in Madison Metro has sued to shut down The Social Club in Madison. The club says it's a church, but Metro codes say it's a swingers club.

Two Metro Nashville codes inspectors paid $40 apiece to enter The Social Club in Madison on the night of March 25. They were responding to the club's website, which said membership was not required for entry.

What they observed over the next two-and-a-half hours — a series of lewd sexual acts and voyeurism — is now the basis of a lawsuit that Metro has filed against the club that seeks injunctive relief to shut it down.

In a lawsuit filed in Davidson County General Sessions Court on Thursday, Metro argues that the owner of The Social Club, Freedom 4 All Inc., led by George "Al" Woods, is operating a business that is not permitted in the use and occupancy certificate granted to the club by the city.

Metro alleges the owner agreed to operate the building at 520 Lentz Drive as a church, but is instead housing something far from it — a sex club, which are permitted in only industrial-zoned districts.

The lawsuit, which says The Social Club constitutes a public nuisance, marks the latest battle between Metro and The Social Club, which moved from Division Street south of downtown to a former medical office building in Madison in 2015 after its previous property was sold.

► Read more (Warning, graphic language): Metro's lawsuit against The Social Club in Madison

The Metro Council and state legislature took action that year to try to stop the club from opening, but the owners instead filed a site plan with the city to operate as a church.

The club's attorney, Larry Roberts, declined to comment.

The two codes inspectors, Christine Gibson and Bill Earles, signed affidavits that are part of Metro's case against the club.

After they entered the club March 25, Gibson and Earles reported seeing a dance and club area where about 50 people were sitting at tables and dancing. They talked to a man who identified himself as "Doug" who said he was traveling from Atlanta to Indiana and found The Social Club through a Google search of "swingers clubs in Nashville."

As the night went on, the club removed a chain blocking access to a restricted area. There, the codes inspectors observed 12 individual rooms that each had doors and either a bed made of a slab with a flat vinyl mattress or a curved lounge chair.

Read more:

► Nashville swingers club eyes Madison location

►Madison erupts over swingers club

► Madison swingers club to open as church instead

One room had an incline table with foot and hand rests, according to the testimony of the inspectors. Another room had a sign above a door that read "choir" — seemingly a nod to the venue's stated church operations. The inspectors said they observed two rooms that had partial walls, providing views into the rooms for spectators.

The inspectors viewed multiple sexual acts, including intercourse and oral sex between patrons while other patrons were watching. One couple, not knowing that Gibson and Earles were codes inspectors, had Gibson take photos of them as they took part in sexual activity and intercourse.

By the time the inspectors left the club, around 11:45 p.m., about 100 people were at the club.

Madison residents have fought The Social Club from the time it was on the drawing board in their community.

Sex clubs are allowed to operate in industrial-zoned areas if they operate as a private club that requires memberships. But The Social Club, which sits near Goodpasture Christian School, is on property zoned for office uses.

This wasn't the law when The Social Club bought the property, but the Metro Council in 2015 changed its zoning code to block private clubs from properties zoned for office uses. That same year, the state legislature voted to block private sexual swinging clubs from locating within 1,000 feet of schools, churches, day cares or parks.

To get around those restrictions, The Social Club's owners in April 2015 filed a site plan with Metro to open as a church called the United Fellowship Center that would cater to the club's members.

That year, Roberts, the attorney, said The Social Club would be "a place where people can meet and enjoy fellowship."

"There is no sexual activity that will go on there," he said back then. "I assume if someone meets there and wants to do something of a sexual nature, they'll go to a hotel or a motel or go home."

Reach Joey Garrison at 615-259-8236 and on Twitter @joeygarrison.