Sex Hysteria!

After posting about the a ridiculous West Virginia ordinance controlling adult stores, I did a search for other similar cases.  If it were any other kind of business, the public wouldn’t stand for the kind of harassment that cities level at adult businesses.  But, sex related businesses are fair game and people either don’t care or don’t want to stand up to crusaders who claim to be “protecting children”.

Nothing like being kicked when you’re down. The VIP Bookstore in Calexico City, California collapsed during a 7.2 magnitude earthquake in April and the city is preventing it from reopening while it cooks up new regulations to restrict the operations of adult businesses.

Don’t be usin’ our roads to get to yer sex stores! Rensselaer, NY is complaining about a law passed in nearby E.Greenbush restricting the location of adult businesses because people would, you know, have to drive on their roads to get to the area.  Says Rensselaer Mayor Mark Pratt:

“If people have to drive through the city to get to these [sex] shops, it’s obviously not something we would want to see,”

Complaints during the comment period complained that:

Under this law, locker rooms at health clubs could be eliminated because there is nudity there,” said a man identified only as Phil. “Women would not be able to wear bikinis at pools, because they would be semi-nude.”
The man said the law would also infringe on the arts in the event nude models were used, as well as on the theatre.

The law is “designed to balance First Amendment rights with the rights of other citizens”.  Huh?  Is that like trying to balance people’s First Amendment rights against those who don’t think there should be First Amendment rights.

You can’t make this shit up. In Gastonia, NC adult merchants are prohibited from having “two sexually oriented uses under one roof”.

A pair of adult businesses in Gastonia have been cited by the city for both showing sexually explicit movies and selling explicit videos and DVDs — a combination that violates state and local laws.

God wouldn’t approve! A church group is fighting an already approved adult business in Southington, Connecticut.   While a challenge to the approval of the VIP (Very Intimate Pleasures) store was mysteriously dropped at the last minute, the towns folk will have another opportunity to get out their pitch forks and torches in October:

The next chance for public comment on the VIP approval will be Oct. 6, when the Planning and Zoning Commission will hold a public hearing on a moratorium on adult-oriented businesses.

The above are only a sampling of stories about the legal challenges aimed at adult oriented businesses happening over the last week.  One can only wonder why anyone would want to get into the business knowing the persecution they can expect from intolerant residents who are all for freedom (except when they aren’t).