Joe Redner

Joseph R. Redner (born 1940 in New Jersey^[1]) is a Floridian businessman, activist, and sometime political candidate. Known as the "father of the nude lap dance", he was the long-time owner of the Mons Venus, a nude strip club in Tampa, Florida, until its sale to a competing club owner in May 2025.^[2][3]

Redner has been engaged in legal battles with the Tampa City Council, which has tried to place restrictions on the strip club since the 1980s.^[4] Mons Venus and Redner have filed suits that have reached the Supreme Court and have become case law in many court cases.

In 2005, Redner was awarded over $7 million in a case filed when the Florida Department of Transportation seized one of his properties by eminent domain to construct a freeway. While the Department of Transportation argued for a property value of $3 million, the jury determined that its highest and best use as an adult entertainment facility made it more valuable than typical commercial properties.^[5] Later that year, he filed a federal lawsuit against Hillsborough County commissioners after they banned the county itself from recognizing gay pride displays.^[6] The county filed a motion to have the case dismissed for lack of standing, since it believed that Redner had no personal interest in gay pride events, and no personal injury to seek redress. Redner then updated the case with a statement that he is gay, though he had previously never mentioned it publicly.^[7] His fight against the ordinance has pitted him against local politician Ronda Storms on many occasions.

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 (PEG) cable TV channel.

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 gained 44% of the vote but lost the election.^[8]

Redner has appeared on Live Prayer to debate his beliefs and defend his business.^[9]