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Bill would make sale of sex toys illegal in South Carolina
AP ^ | 4/23/6 | Seanna Adcox

Posted on 04/23/2006 5:47:00 AM PDT by Crackingham

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.

"That would be the most terrible thing in the world," said Ms. Gillespie, an employee the Anderson shop. "That is just flabbergasting to me. We are supposed to be in a free country, and we’re supposed to be adults who can decide what want to do and don’t want to do in the privacy of our own homes."

Ms. Gillespie, 49, said she has worked in the store for nearly 20 years and has seen people from every walk of life, including "every Sunday churchgoers."

"I know of multiple marriages that sex toys have sold because some people need that. The people who are riding us (the adult novelty industry) so hard are probably at home buying it (sex toys and novelties) on the Internet. It’s ridiculous." The measure would add sex toys to the state’s obscenity laws, which already prohibit the dissemination and advertisement of obscene materials.

People convicted under obscenity laws face up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events; US: South Carolina
KEYWORDS: appliances; gardening; talibornagains
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To: Drango
There are no domestic dildos anymore.

Whaddaya want, a protective tariff for the Yankee dildo industry?

241 posted on 04/23/2006 2:26:33 PM PDT by PatrickHenry (Unresponsive to trolls, lunatics, fanatics, retards, scolds, & incurable ignoramuses.)
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To: opticks

http://www.vote-smart.org/bio.php?can_id=BS021950?q=print

First Baptist Church of North Spartanburg


242 posted on 04/23/2006 2:31:43 PM PDT by kalee
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To: Howlin
(I have to get off this thread..........LOL)

Nah, stick around. You'll add to the high level of discussion, Howlin.

It was only a typo, anyway. I believe expatguy meant to write "cucumbers and cumquats" and had one of those dyslexic moments like we all do occasionally.

They are thought to be two of the secret ingedients in an ancient Chinese potion that's supposed to make you . . well, you know what I mean.

And you can bet the bluenoses in South Carolina wouldn't want any of that stuff available over-the-counter where teenagers and senior citizens could get ahold of it.

There needs to be a law.

243 posted on 04/23/2006 2:54:12 PM PDT by logician2u
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To: Neets

Hey, don't you live in SC?

LOL


244 posted on 04/23/2006 2:56:40 PM PDT by Central Scrutiniser (No one censors speech they agree with.)
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Comment #245 Removed by Moderator

To: opticks
I would love to know which version of Christianity Rep. Davenport subscribes to and what Biblical passage he is basing this on.

My guess would be Amish. No electrical devices allowed.

Mark

246 posted on 04/23/2006 3:03:25 PM PDT by MarkL (When Kaylee says "No power in the `verse can stop me," it's cute. When River says it, it's scary!)
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To: Drango
Um, um.... it's a neck massager. Yeah, that's what it is.

Well for someone with their head up their a$$ (NOT YOU! The legislators!), it might just wind up being sexually stimulating!

Mark

247 posted on 04/23/2006 3:06:43 PM PDT by MarkL (When Kaylee says "No power in the `verse can stop me," it's cute. When River says it, it's scary!)
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To: Condor51

actually you may be more correct than you realize...I can see how the 1965 Griswold case would be used to overturn this law


248 posted on 04/23/2006 3:11:37 PM PDT by georgia2006
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To: Between the Lines

i am pretty certain GA does not


249 posted on 04/23/2006 3:12:11 PM PDT by georgia2006
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To: Between the Lines; Crackingham; rattrap; JeffAtlanta; georgia2006; PatrickHenry
Other states that ban the sale of sex toys include Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and Texas.

Texas doesn't ban sex toys per se, it just bans the "promotion" (i.e., sale or advertising) of "an obscene device", which is defined as something, and I quote, "designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs". Most sex shops in Texas (and there are no shortage of them) avoid trouble by not describing exactly what their wares can be used for, or how, by not carrying devices that are "too realistic", and by labeling the items "novelties".

There's also a lot of room for loopholes in clause 43.23(g) of the statute: " It is an affirmative defense to prosecution under this section that the person who possesses or promotes material or a device proscribed by this section does so for a bona fide medical, psychiatric, judicial, legislative, or law enforcement purpose."

Related stories (and ya gotta love the headline on the first one):

Is That a Perfectly Legal, Anatomically Correct Condom Education Model, or Are You Just Happy to See Me?

Texas mom faces trial for selling sex toys

Note that in the second story, what really got her in trouble was not selling the items, but instead it was describing what they were for and how they were used, thus making it clear what the "devices" were "primarily" for, which is they key phrase in the law. As BeAnn Sisemore, the Texas mom's lawyer, points out, "This law is about how you represent what the product is for. I can have the most obnoxious item in the world, and as long as I call it a 'novelty,' I can sell it all day long. If I educate you on how to use it, it's illegal."

Eight months later, after putting the Texas mom and her family through legal and financial hell, and driving them into bankruptcy, the town dropped the charges, officially stating that they didn't want to "waste city resources", but the real reasons likely involved the massive amount of national (and international) derision and scorn they were receiving, and that it came out that the "investigation" was instigated by a couple of local folks with petty personal grudges against the mom, who were trying to make trouble for her.

250 posted on 04/23/2006 3:37:27 PM PDT by Ichneumon (Ignorance is curable, but the afflicted has to want to be cured.)
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To: stands2reason
How are these toys a threat to you?

They're a real temptation and worthless, silly items that are pale-alternatives to the genatilia that GOD blesses men & women with to celebrate sexual relations within the Holy union of Marriage.

251 posted on 04/23/2006 3:43:44 PM PDT by ExcursionGuy84 ("Jesus, Your Love takes my breath away.")
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To: Ichneumon
"designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs"

How many times do I have to tell everyone? It's a neck massager!

252 posted on 04/23/2006 3:47:04 PM PDT by Drango (No electrons were harmed in this posting. Several however, were inconvenienced.)
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To: PatrickHenry; Senator Bedfellow; Larry Lucido
We don't want Yankees with dildos coming down here and corrupting our women.

Now if that ain’t evil, turning a civilized discussion of gardening and appliances into a Civil War thread.

;-)

253 posted on 04/23/2006 3:55:50 PM PDT by dighton
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To: traviskicks

The governor of North Carolina is one...


254 posted on 04/23/2006 4:03:01 PM PDT by TommyDale
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To: Crackingham

Did I make a mistake in purchasing that second home in Myrtle Beach? Will this devalue my investment?


255 posted on 04/23/2006 4:09:29 PM PDT by TommyDale
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To: tpaine
Ryan, does this mean you support State prohibitions on guns? Paulsen claims CA's 'assault weapon ban' is perfectly Constitutional.

No, that would be a case where the state is imposing an unconstitutional restriction on something that is Constitutionally protected -- RKBA.

Individual rights are Constitutionally protected, and RKBA falls under that. Any law that the states pass must be Constitutional. I agree with federalist ideas in general, within the bounds of the Constitution protecting individual liberties first and foremost. I think the 10th Amendment has been ignored, in the sense that states should primarily be in charge of themselves without federal intrusion.

The idea of the feds regulating commerce was originally meant as a way to ensure a level playing field between different states, but the feds have long since used it to encroach terribly on areas of governance which should be determined by the states (e.g. drug laws).

256 posted on 04/23/2006 4:36:08 PM PDT by Ryan Spock (Former Internet Addict -- Making good progress with help from an online support group)
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To: Mr Ramsbotham
" When zucchini is illegal, only criminals will have zucchini."

Hahahahahahahahahaha. The only thing is the criminals will start to possess banana's and cucumber's.

257 posted on 04/23/2006 4:41:23 PM PDT by Mikey (Freedom isn't free, but slavery is.)
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To: Publius Valerius
Where is it again that the right to sell dildos exists in the Constitution?

It is about time that government at all levels were stripped of their ability to regulate most things that aren't an immediate threat to life and limb. It is also about time that majorities were reeducated to the fact that a 10% "fringe", or even less, can make it very uncomfortable for them and that any attempts to further impose their views had better be worth it to them.
258 posted on 04/23/2006 4:46:00 PM PDT by UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide (Give Them Liberty Or Give Them Death! - IT'S ISLAM, STUPID! - Islam Delenda Est! - Rumble thee forth)
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To: rintense
"The government needs to stay out of my bedroom."

Lets see first they went into the bathroom when they decided what size toilet we can have. I guess the next step would be the bedroom.

259 posted on 04/23/2006 4:58:14 PM PDT by Mikey (Freedom isn't free, but slavery is.)
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To: KoRn
What about toes, tongues,?
260 posted on 04/23/2006 5:01:00 PM PDT by Mikey (Freedom isn't free, but slavery is.)
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