TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – A 19-year-old and the club where she worked as a stripper have sued the Florida attorney general and two local prosecutors to block enforcement of a new state law that prohibits adult entertainment establishments from employing anyone under 21, saying it violates their constitutional rights.

Serenity Michelle Bushey claims in the lawsuit that she lost her job at Cafe Risque in the Gainesville area after the law went into effect Monday because she is younger than 21. The purpose of the law is to prevent human trafficking, Florida lawmakers said.

The lawsuit was filed Monday in federal court in Tallahassee on behalf of Bushey, the owner of Cafe Risque and two adult stores in Jacksonville. She is seeking a permanent injunction preventing enforcement of the law because it allegedly violates her right to free speech under the First Amendment and her right to equal treatment under the Fourteenth Amendment.

In addition to Bushey, eight other actors in adult films who are older than 18 but younger than 21 are not allowed to work at Café Risque because of the new law, the lawsuit states.

“Like similar artists across the state, Bushey earned a living through her art while simultaneously providing entertainment for the benefit and enjoyment of her audiences,” the lawsuit states. “Plaintiffs have a clear legal right to engage in protected speech of this nature.”

The new law also prohibits the hiring of cooks, DJs, waitresses and security guards who are older than 18 but younger than 21, or even the use of workers in that age group by third-party contractors for tasks such as repairing air conditioning or carpentry, the lawsuit says.

Kylie Mason, communications director for the attorney general's office, said Tuesday that the lawsuit had not yet been served on the office, but that the office would defend the new law.