There is a sad irony that the lives of three council members and their families have been destroyed because they, as the jury said, conspired with strip club officials to repeal a law that is unconstitutional.

San Diego’s so called “no touching rule” violates the First Amendment. Lap dancing, as I’ve reported here, is “blue collar ballet.” California courts have ruled that lap dancing is a protected form of expression, just as is ballet or yoga.

The fact that lap dancing involves close contact with another individual does not amount to prostitution; the California Supreme Court has made it clear that it’s not prostitution unless there is direct physical contact. A laptop dance, done correctly, is an “air dance” and does not involve touching.

The Los Angeles City Council tried to ban lap dancing. Not only did it face court challenges, but voters in L.A. forced the City Council to either hold a special election on the issue or repeal the law. The council acquiesced.

I chalk up this matter to San Diego (and the nation’s) continued obsession with “blue collar” sex and the willingness of police agencies to be “God squads” so they can placate those in office who espouse “family values.”

The best example locally is the San Diego Police Department creating, staffing and marketing its own bogus escort Web site. It’s designed to lure straight men into meeting supposedly hot women for sex at private venues. The men show up at a hotel room and police greet them and charge them with soliciting.

SDPD is laying off 20 community resource officers, and 70 police officers have left because of low pay. But our bankrupt city devotes full-time positions to go after “non-public” prostitution, which has never been the subject of complaints.

Those of us who live in the mid-city area understand the need for street prostitution stings, specifically on El Cajon Boulevard in North Park (30th Street). It’s a blight on our communities because this “street” sex does attract other crimes and lowers property values.

But operating a full-time bogus escort service and Web site, at the expense of community service officers, is absurd. The presence of this effort by SDPD clearly points out an obsession with blue collar sex.

Over the last 10 years especially, a former city attorney working with SDPD began efforts to close adult bookstores, peep shows, “fantasy” booths and strip clubs.

A federal appellate court publicly criticized former City Attorney Casey Gwinn because he had employed illegal efforts to successfully close almost one-half of adult businesses in the city of San Diego, despite studies showing that the market demand had doubled for such businesses.

The reality of all this is that there is a Wal-Mart world for sex and there is a Prada world for sex. There are men here and everywhere who pay thousands, if not millions, for sexual services performed by women and men. They don’t need to fly on their private jets to Nevada to do it. They know exactly how to circumvent all laws having to do with prostitution. Their lawyers tell them exactly what to do.

“The Sopranos” shows how it’s done. Many men with money have “mistresses” or “friends with privileges.” It’s all rather discreet. And it’s been around forever.

I’ve monitored articles in the Los Angeles Daily Journal and elsewhere that have reported on the surprising number of law school graduates who forgo jobs paying $150,000 starting salaries to earn $500 an hour (upwards of thousands) as sex professionals.

Some have found the work far more lucrative than practicing law, and a whole lot less stressful. They meet high-powered people who desire to be with younger, bright, sophisticated professionals (in every sense). Donald Trump might call it an “apprentice” relationship.

While the Wal-Mart sex worker is often uneducated, drug-addicted and diseased, the Prada worker is more often a well-educated, young professional with business savvy.

I’m not criticizing the work of the U.S. Attorney Carol Lam and her staff here. They stumbled across this matter when they were actually investigating supposed illegal firearms sales at Cheetah’s. To her credit, Lam will go after Congressmember Duke Cunningham with the same vigor as she did the three Democratic members of the San Diego City Council.

None of this matters now that we’ve lost the three council members: Michael Zucchet, Ralph Inzunza and Charles Lewis, whose death was most certainly caused by the added stress of the indictments. All three, unlike the three men they replaced, were solid supporters of equality for GLBT individuals.