Sherri Williams, owner of two Alabama adult stores is opening a third store in a Huntsville building formerly used by a bank which gives the new store the novelty of having a drive-up window similar to neighboring fast food outlets.
Sherri Williams is known for waging a long court battle to get Alabama’s sex toy ban overturned. The sex toy ban was introduced by State Senator Tom Butler (see the Sex Hysteria Hall of Shame), sailing through the sexually repressed state legislature with virtually no opposition. Sherri Williams assisted by the ACLU sued to have the law overturned, taking her fight all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Needless to say, the law withstood the challenge.
It should be noted that Senator Bulter, who has served in the Alabama legislature since 1982, was roundly trounced by Republican Bill Holtzclaw in the 2010 elections. Whether Holtzclaw is any better remains to be seen, but it’s a certainty that Alabama will continue to defend its reputation for being among the most sexually repressed populations in the country (and probably the world).
To be fair to other states that proudly take repression seriously, it should be pointed out that Colorado, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and Virginia also have criminal statutes targeting sex toys.
Louisiana bans sex-toys? Wow, I never knew that; it sure isn’t enforced in Greater New Orleans, though now that I think of it Suzanne’s (my favorite lingerie store in Fat City) did have her sex toy section in a room where you had to be 18 to enter. Maybe the Louisiana law is a restriction rather than an outright ban?
Here we go: http://sexuality.about.com/b/2008/10/31/sex-toy-sales-legal-in-texas-louisiana-and-mississippi.htm
The 5th circuit (Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi) ruled such laws unconstitutional two years ago, but Louisiana’s Supreme Court had already negated Louisiana’s law years before (and it really hadn’t been enforced in GNO for years before that). Kansas and Alabama are now the only two states in which legislators are officially afraid of vibrators.
Well, I copied that from an old blog post which apparently was based on an old news source. From what I’ve found doing a search, the 5th Circuit struck down the sex toy laws in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi in 2008. That leaves Colorado, Virginia, Alabama, Kansas, and Georgia (but not all news sources are in agreement on that).
I haven’t been to Pleasures store here in ages, but I think they still sell them in Alabama as well. I think there are ways around it, like having to sign something that says it’s for medical use or some such thing (which reminds me of the days when porn used to carry a disclaimer that it was “for educational purposed only”). Maybe the state just doesn’t enforce it.
If there’s a conflict between Circuit Courts on a ruling, doesn’t the Supreme Court automatically step in to deliberate? Wouldn’t the 5th Circuit decision make the Alabama law rechallengeable?
Also, I note the sex drive-thru will have three lanes. I bet there’s still a line on payday, though.