At 11:00 this morning, a group of strip-club representatives calling itself Seattle Citizens for Free Speech (for what form of expression, indeed, is more sacred than erotic dancing?) turned in 27,000 signatures to the city clerk (more than twice as many as required), guaranteeing that a referendum to repeal tough new strip-club regulations will go to a citywide vote, probably next fall.

The rules, passed in September, would ban lap dances, require bright lighting in strip clubs, and prohibit direct tipping, among other new restrictions. At a public hearing last summer, hundreds of strippers spoke at a hearing on the ordinance at city hall, arguing that the rules would put Seattle’s three existing strip clubs out of business and destroy dancers’ livelihoods. They had a point: After Bellevue passed similar regulations, its two strip clubs shut their doors.

Seattle Citizens for Free Speech plans to turn in another 5,000 to 7,000 signatures tomorrow, the deadline to hand over petitions to the city clerk. The last time citizens attempted to overturn a council ordinance by petition was in 1974; and the last time they were successful was in 1969, when voters rejected a $1-a-month tax to build a mass transit system in the city.