hanky panky ain't no joke.
So, who wants to start their Monday morning with a huge, "WHAT THE FUCK?"
I certainly do, after reading this article:
http://www.independentmail.com/and/home/article/0,1886,AND_8195_4641568,00.html
Abbreviated:
Bill would make sale of sex toys illegal in South Carolina
April 21, 2006
COLUMBIA - Lucy’s Love Shop employee Wanda Gillespie said she was flabbergasted that South Carolina’s Legislature is considering outlawing sex toys.
But banning the sale of sex toys is actually quite common in some Southern states.
The South Carolina bill, proposed by Republican Rep. Ralph Davenport, would make it a felony to sell devices used primarily for sexual stimulation and allow law enforcement to seize sex toys from raided businesses.
People convicted under obscenity laws face up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
South Carolina law borrows from a 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling to define obscene as something "contemporary community standards" determine as "patently offensive" sexual conduct, which "lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value."
Rep. Davenport, who is from Spartanburg County, did not return several messages Friday to talk about his bill, which was introduced last month. No other legislator has signed on as a co-sponsor and its passage this year seems unlikely.
Recent police raids in Rep. Davenport’s county have targeted adult-oriented businesses.
The sheriff’s office there seized movies, sex toys, sexual-enhancement pills and surveillance tapes from two businesses in January.
One of the stores, Priscilla’s, sued the sheriff’s office, claiming the raid violated constitutional rights and asked for the return of the seized items. Sheriff Chuck Wright refused.
The case has not yet gone to trial, Maj. Dan Johnson said.
Maj. Johnson said he knew nothing of Rep. Davenport’s proposal and was unsure how it could help their investigations, which involve undercover detectives renting movies or buying magazines and prosecutors determining whether they’re obscene.
"We’re focused on the hard-core magazines, videos ... the hard-core porn," he said.
Other states that ban the sell of sex toys include Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and Texas, said Mark Lopez, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union.
Alabama’s law banning the sale of sex toys has been circulating through the courts since its passage in 1998. U.S. District Judge Lynwood Smith Jr. twice ruled against the law, holding that it violated the constitutional right to privacy, but the state won both times on appeal.
In February 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case, which is back in the lower courts.
The ACLU got involved in the case, he said, to "keep the government out of the bedroom."
Though the laws don’t punish people for owning sex toys, banning their sale is a backdoor attempt to discourage their use, Mr. Lopez said.
"People have a fundamental right to engage in lawful sexual practices in the privacy of their home," Mr. Lopez said. "It’s not like this stuff is available in Macy’s. Kids aren’t allowed in. You or I wouldn’t accidentally walk into one."
So, yeah. This infuriates me more than anything I've seen as of late. The fact that a couple or single person won't have the right to rush to a late night adult store when the need or desire arises is most definitely a violation of human rights and an infringement on social behaviors that, although not talked about that often and not accepted in all situations, does exist and always will. Sex is a NORMAL, human thing, people!! Gah, I'm too incensed after reading this to be able to write anything coherent because all that is going through my head is KELLYANGRYWANTSEXANDTOYSLIKEEVERYONEELSEFEMINISMHUMANRIGHTSGRRCONSERVATIVESSTUPID. Gah. I guess we're going to have to start finding stubby pieces of wood and wrap them in leather just like medieval women had to do for dildos.
edit: Calmed down a little. If you want to do anything, write an email, letter, etc, here you go (and I encourage it!!):
G. Ralph Davenport Jr, is the man supporting this bill. Here's his info:
District 37 - Spartanburg Co.
Contact Address:
(H) 105 Ashland Terrace, Boiling Springs, 29316 Bus. (864) 814-0070 Home (864) 578-3053(C)
522A Blatt Bldg., Columbia, 29211 Bus. (803) 734-3098
GRD@schouse.org
I certainly do, after reading this article:
http://www.independentmail.com/and/home/article/0,1886,AND_8195_4641568,00.html
Abbreviated:
Bill would make sale of sex toys illegal in South Carolina
April 21, 2006
COLUMBIA - Lucy’s Love Shop employee Wanda Gillespie said she was flabbergasted that South Carolina’s Legislature is considering outlawing sex toys.
But banning the sale of sex toys is actually quite common in some Southern states.
The South Carolina bill, proposed by Republican Rep. Ralph Davenport, would make it a felony to sell devices used primarily for sexual stimulation and allow law enforcement to seize sex toys from raided businesses.
People convicted under obscenity laws face up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
South Carolina law borrows from a 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling to define obscene as something "contemporary community standards" determine as "patently offensive" sexual conduct, which "lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value."
Rep. Davenport, who is from Spartanburg County, did not return several messages Friday to talk about his bill, which was introduced last month. No other legislator has signed on as a co-sponsor and its passage this year seems unlikely.
Recent police raids in Rep. Davenport’s county have targeted adult-oriented businesses.
The sheriff’s office there seized movies, sex toys, sexual-enhancement pills and surveillance tapes from two businesses in January.
One of the stores, Priscilla’s, sued the sheriff’s office, claiming the raid violated constitutional rights and asked for the return of the seized items. Sheriff Chuck Wright refused.
The case has not yet gone to trial, Maj. Dan Johnson said.
Maj. Johnson said he knew nothing of Rep. Davenport’s proposal and was unsure how it could help their investigations, which involve undercover detectives renting movies or buying magazines and prosecutors determining whether they’re obscene.
"We’re focused on the hard-core magazines, videos ... the hard-core porn," he said.
Other states that ban the sell of sex toys include Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and Texas, said Mark Lopez, an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union.
Alabama’s law banning the sale of sex toys has been circulating through the courts since its passage in 1998. U.S. District Judge Lynwood Smith Jr. twice ruled against the law, holding that it violated the constitutional right to privacy, but the state won both times on appeal.
In February 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case, which is back in the lower courts.
The ACLU got involved in the case, he said, to "keep the government out of the bedroom."
Though the laws don’t punish people for owning sex toys, banning their sale is a backdoor attempt to discourage their use, Mr. Lopez said.
"People have a fundamental right to engage in lawful sexual practices in the privacy of their home," Mr. Lopez said. "It’s not like this stuff is available in Macy’s. Kids aren’t allowed in. You or I wouldn’t accidentally walk into one."
So, yeah. This infuriates me more than anything I've seen as of late. The fact that a couple or single person won't have the right to rush to a late night adult store when the need or desire arises is most definitely a violation of human rights and an infringement on social behaviors that, although not talked about that often and not accepted in all situations, does exist and always will. Sex is a NORMAL, human thing, people!! Gah, I'm too incensed after reading this to be able to write anything coherent because all that is going through my head is KELLYANGRYWANTSEXANDTOYSLIKEEVERYONEELSEFEMINISMHUMANRIGHTSGRRCONSERVATIVESSTUPID. Gah. I guess we're going to have to start finding stubby pieces of wood and wrap them in leather just like medieval women had to do for dildos.
edit: Calmed down a little. If you want to do anything, write an email, letter, etc, here you go (and I encourage it!!):
G. Ralph Davenport Jr, is the man supporting this bill. Here's his info:
District 37 - Spartanburg Co.
Contact Address:
(H) 105 Ashland Terrace, Boiling Springs, 29316 Bus. (864) 814-0070 Home (864) 578-3053(C)
522A Blatt Bldg., Columbia, 29211 Bus. (803) 734-3098
GRD@schouse.org