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SEX TOY LAW RULED UNCONSTITUTIONAL

BIRMINGHAM, AL -- U.S. District Judge Lynwood Smith Jr. has ruled here, for the second time, that a state amendment banning the sale of sexual devices such as vibrators is unconstitutional. Smith originally tossed out the ban on sales in 1999. The case was later appealed to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which sent it back to Judge Smith for reconsideration.

Smith said the state did not demonstrate it had a compelling interest to block the plaintiffs' from buying sexual devices for use in a private, consenting, adult sexual relationship.

"The fundamental right of privacy, long recognized by the Supreme Court as inherent among our constitutional protections, incorporates a right to sexual privacy," he wrote.

The suit was filed in 1998 on behalf of a group that included the owners of businesses that sell sexual devices and women who use the devices. The suit brought the state national attention.

"My clients are very pleased, especially that Judge Smith ruled favorably on the right to privacy argument," said Amy L. Herring, one of the plaintiffs' lawyers. "We have always felt that was our strongest and constitutionally, the most important."

The amendment banning the sale of sexual devices was part of a package of legislation strengthening the state's obscenity law. The legislation's main point was to ban nude dancing in Madison County and to give local communities the ability to set standards for their community.

From Val Walton, The Birmingham News, 10/11/02

CUSTOMS CENSORS STRIKE AGAIN

BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA -- Canadian customs authorities have seized copies of “Cherry,” a lesbian sex novel by Charlotte Cooper, that were headed for a gay and lesbian bookstore in Victoria. The graphic novel includes a description of fisting, which officials suspected put the book in violation of national obscenity laws. Customs will have 30 days to determine if “Cherry” lacks artistic merit and, if so, the books may be permanently detained.

This seizure puts Canadian Customs back in the international spotlight, where it has been off and on for nearly two decades. A country that is liberal in many respects, Canada does not have the equivalent of the. First Amendment, and the nation’s customs department has a history of using obscenity law for gay-biased censorship.

Last year, for example, Canada Customs grabbed a shipment of “Meatmen” comics en route to bookshop, Little Sisters. The store describes the comic as a combination of gay male erotica and amusing commentary on the gay community. Little Sisters went to court to challenge the seizure, and a trial is expected next summer.

From Ann Rostow, PlanetOut.com Network, 10/3/02

TEACHER RESIGNS OVER ROLE IN SEX VIDEO

BROWARD, FL -- Anthony Vanchieri, an elementary school teacher here who appeared in pornographic videos, has quietly resigned and abandoned his fight to keep his job, his attorney, Steve Rossi, confirmed.

The school board suspended Vanchieri on June 18 as the first step toward firing him for “disgracing the profession.” But at that time Vanchieri said he would fight the suspension in an administrative hearing.

Vanchieri still opposes any action by the state board of education to withdraw his teaching license, although he is not sure he will keep teaching, Rossi said.
Last fall, Vanchieri appeared on the TV show Temptation Island 2 as a “tempter” who tried to lure women away from their boyfriends.

But in December, allegations surfaced that an Internet Web site was selling two pornographic videos featuring Vanchieri. He was removed from his teaching position and given a desk job with no contact with children.

Vanchieri said he was hoping to further a modeling career when he went to a party last summer at a West Palm Beach mansion and took a pill that he said the video’s producer gave him.

He was stunned later to find himself billed in Solo Guys, Vol. 1 as Tony the Tempter, lying nude with a man and giving the “impression they are about to engage in oral sex,” a school district investigator reported.

From Bill Hirschman, South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 10/8/02

“SUPERTAX” ON PORN FILMS PROPOSED

PARIS, FRANCE -- A 93 percent “supertax” on porn films is one of several proposals to emerge here from the center-right parliamentary majority elected in June.

“Our aim is to make this sector financially unattractive,” right-wing deputy Charles de Courson said.

Courson said the measure would raise to 60 percent from 33 percent a special tax already levied on profits from the production, distribution or showing of any

French-made film deemed pornographic or an incitement to violence. Once added to France’s standard 33 percent tax on all corporate profits, French porn film-makers will be left with a mere seven percent of their profits.

Imported porn will not be spared. A second measure would slap heavy taxes on foreign productions.

Emboldened by their landslide victory in June elections, many conservatives believe the time is ripe to take aim at France’s tradition of cultural permissiveness.

Human rights groups and bastions of France’s liberal tradition such as the influential Le Monde daily have cried foul, saying ruling conservatives under President Jacques Chirac are on a repressive moral crusade.

But Courson noted the porn film “supertax” gained the backing of opposition left-wingers in a recent vote.

From Reuters, courtesy of Ben Burch, 10/11/02

RESIDENTS RILED BY ZONING PROPOSAL

HUDSON, FL -- A new Pasco County zoning ordinance would carve out 58 new sites for exotic dance clubs, lingerie modeling shops and adult video stores, according to a proposal released here. 22 existing business also can stay put because the county lost a court battle to move them. A federal judge in Tampa suspended two ordinances last year, calling the laws an attempt to put the shops out of business.

The new proposal has enraged some Hudson residents. Not only might the original businesses they fought get to stay but more could be on the way.

Rick West, who lives in the a subdivision across U.S. 19 from the Players Club strip bar, wants to know if the Pasco County Commission plans to help the homeowners along that corridor if their property values plunge. “They have totally turned a blind eye,” West said. He questions how the businesses are allowed to stay.

Governments must set aside a sufficient number of spaces for adult businesses, explained Fred Lowndes, the county’s former zoning administrator who helped draft the proposal as a consultant.

Future shops would have to be in commercial districts, on four-lane divided highways, 750 feet from homes or professional office districts and 1,000 feet from parks, schools, day care centers and places of worship.

From Saundra Amrhein, St. Petersburg Times, 10/10/02