(submitted bygekkogecko)

Reuters

By James Vicini

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court (news -
web sites) rejected on Tuesday a constitutional
challenge to an Alabama law that makes it a crime to
sell sex toys.

The high court refused to hear an appeal by a group of
individuals who regularly use sexual devices and by
two vendors who argued the case raised important
issues about the scope of the constitutional right to
sexual privacy.

The law prohibited the distribution of "any device
designed or marketed as useful primarily for the
stimulation of human genital organs." First-time
violators can face a fine of up to $10,000 and as much
as one year in jail.

The law, adopted in 1998, allowed the sale of ordinary
vibrators and body massagers that are not designed or
marketed primarily as sexual aids. It exempted sales
of sexual devices "for a bona fide medical,
scientific, educational, legislative, judicial or law
enforcement purpose."

Georgia and Texas are the only other states that
restrict the distribution of sexual devices, according
to the court record in the case.

Attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union (news
- web sites), representing those who challenged the
law, argued that private, consensual sexual conduct
among adults is constitutionally protected and beyond
the reach of government regulation.

They said the Supreme Court's decision in 2003
striking down a Texas sodomy law also created a
fundamental, constitutional due process right to
sexual privacy.

"The evidence shows that this case is not about
novelty items, naughty toys or obscene matter. It is a
case about human sexuality and extremely intimate
acts," the attorneys said.

They said Alabama has never explained "why sales of
performance enhancing drugs like Viagra, Cialis and
Levitra and even ribbed condoms are not similarly
prohibited."

The attorneys said the state did not contest the
evidence that about 20 percent of all American women
use a vibrator and at least 10 percent of sexually
active adults use vibrators in their regular sex life.

A federal judge ruled against the state and found a
constitutional "right to use sexual devices like ...
vibrators, dildos, anal beads and artificial vaginas."

But a U.S. appeals court based in Atlanta upheld the
law by a 2-1 vote.

The appeals court said it agreed with Alabama that the
law exercised time-honored use of state police power
to restrict the sale of sex. It rejected the ACLU's
argument that the constitutional right to privacy
covered the commercial sale of sex toys.

Alabama Attorney General Troy King opposed the ACLU's
appeal.

"This case involves conduct that is both public and
commercial -- the sale of sexual devices to the
general public in commercial retail shopping centers"
and at in-house Tupperware-style parties, he said.

King said the law respected "the distinction between
public commercial conduct and purely private
behavior." He said, "It ... stays out of people's
bedrooms."

The justices rejected the appeal without any comment
or recorded dissent.

__________________

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