Adult-toy sales ban unlikely to see aggressive enf

While it’s now against the law to sell sex toys in Alabama, enforcement of the law doesn’t seem to be high on officials’ list of threats to society.

The U.S. Supreme Court this week declined to hear a challenge to Alabama’s law banning the sale of sex toys on Monday, effectively letting the 1998 law stand.

Law enforcement likely won’t be raiding stores right away, though.

Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Andy Norris said that there will likely be other challenges to the law.

As it stands now, a federal injunction bars enforcement of the law, but that is expected to be lifted in the light of the high court’s decision.

“We’ll monitor the process and take action as needed when and where we receive complaints about violators of the law,” he said.

Violators are subject to a maximum $10,000 fine and one year in jail. Only the sale of sex toys within the state is forbidden; it is not illegal to possess a sex toy, or to buy one in another state or online.

Sherri Williams, who owns adult stores in Huntsville and Decatur challenged the constitutionality of the law. Attorney Mike Fees worked on the case until it was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“As far as this lawsuit goes, the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court was the nail in the coffin. There is no other recourse available,” he said. “Whether other challenges remain, I don’t know.”

Williams has said that she intends to challenge aspects of the law, including inconsistencies regarding advertising.

The law does permit the sale of adult toys for medical or scientific reasons.

“That may start another round of litigations,” Fees said, adding that he doesn’t plan to handle any potential cases.

Enforcement of the law was suspended during the challenge. Attorney General Troy King has said he intends to request a judge lift an injunction against enforcing the law, and has put local district attorneys on notice.

Tuscaloosa County District Attorney Tommy Smith did not return several calls for comment Tuesday and Wednesday.

Fantasyland is the only adult store in Tuscaloosa County. The business is housed in an inconspicuous building outside the city limits on U.S. Highway 82 in Duncanville.

A woman at the store Tuesday declined to comment about the ban.

One side of the store contains videos and magazines, which are not covered by the law in question because they are not items used to directly stimulate sexual organs.

The other half of the store contains clothing and lingerie for women. One wall is filled with displays of gels, lubricants, incense and novelty items one might find at bachelorette parties.

Two other walls of the store contain vibrators and other sex toys.

The Legislature passed the law that now forbids some of the merchandise in Fantasyland as part of a bill that outlawed strip clubs in Madison County.

Williams hired a lobbyist last year in the hopes of convincing legislators to modify the section of the law that addresses the sale of sex toys.

“It got virtually no support,” Fees said.

Lawmakers have conceded that the statute is a bit heavy-handed, Fees said.

“It’s one thing to concede that it’s a bad law and yet another to publicly move to eliminate the law,” he said. “Ironically, over the nine years of litigation, the AG’s office never argued that it was a good law, just that it wasn’t unconstitutional.”

Fees predicts the law will not be enforced vigilantly, and that law enforcement will likely give warnings to store owners rather than raid their businesses and make arrests.

Officers, however, must respond if they receive a complaint.

“They have no choice. Law enforcement does not have the authority to decide whether laws are good or bad,” he said.

Ann Bartow, a law professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law, writes a blog called Feminist Law Professors. She called the law “ridiculous.”

“I think it’s a way for the state Legislature to look moral,” she said.

Male sexuality is more ingrained in the social texture, she said, citing jokes and references in television and movies.

She said the law was written in an effort to constrain women’s sexuality.

“It’s a way to exert control, or pretend to exert control, over women’s ability to be sexual,” she said.

“Why the Alabama government wants to impede masturbation, the one form of sex that can be enjoyed without risk of disease, unplanned pregnancy, or exploitive financial commoditization, I have no idea.”

Reach Stephanie Taylor at stephanie.taylor@tuscaloosanews.com or 205-722-0210.