Words Like Locusts Flew From Her Fingers

Fairfax to Unfairly Target “Adults Only” Businesses

Times Community Newspapers – Fairfax – 09/22/2005 – City to regulate sexually-oriented businesses
A city staff report stated that the experiences of several jurisdictions in Virginia and across the nation have demonstrated that sexually-oriented businesses can create a negative impact on adjacent business and residential communities and generate community concerns for the health, safety and welfare of persons associated with or exposed to these businesses.

Yeah, and the presence of a “Re-Elect George W. Bush” Campaign Headquarters next door would have created a negative impact on any business I might have owned, too. I doubt I would have had much success getting the city council to “regulate” that, though.

As for the “health, safety and welfare” of people exposed to these businesses — what the fuck are they even talking about?? There are a whole bunch of unspoken presumptions in that and I’m not at all persuaded that ANY of them are valid. Are porn shop customers more likely to have diseases or to be dangerous perverts of some kind? I think that’s unlikely. Much more likely is that the people who buy stuff at these businesses are simply people who don’t have internet connections at home. I mean — let’s be real here, people. Lots of completely normal people look at porn online. Just because a person buys their porn at a shop instead of on the internet or through cable TV pay-per-view doesn’t make the guy (or gal) any more of a degenerate. So… I strongly suspect this “healthy, safety and welfare” stuff is bullshit.

Sexually-oriented businesses, which are referred to as “adult uses” in the ordinance, are required to obtain a permit from the chief of police, in addition to any other required business license.

To obtain a permit, the applicant must provide, among other things, names and addresses of references, a criminal records check, photographs and fingerprints, and information on whether they have held a similar permit or been denied a similar permit in other jurisdictions.

And what the hell is that all about? The people who run these adult businesses are being treated like criminals when, in fact, they are engaging in a Constitutionally protected activity. See, now that’s completely unfair. I suppose I can see the validity of some zoning restrictions for adult businesses. They probably shouldn’t be next door to schools or daycare businesses. I might even be able to agree to not putting them next door to churches. (Though I doubt most porn shop owners would want to be next door to a church anyway.) Requiring them to get a permit from the police, though — complete with fingerprints! That’s just wrong.

The ordinance also provides strict standards for the operation of adult use businesses to ensure the safety of employees, patrons and the public and minimize the opportunity for crimes that may occur in and around adult use businesses.

Again, there’s a presumption of guilt. Wrong, wrong, wrong. The city of Fairfax should be treating these businesses just like they’d treat any other business. They have inspectors to check out the safety of restaurants and barber shops and such, don’t they? Likewise, they should have inspectors who periodically check up on these porn shops to be sure they’re not doing anything illegal like selling obscene materials or letting people have sex in the store. There’s no reason why entrepeneurs should have to jump through a bunch of extra legal hoops just to be in business in Fairfax.

I think I’m going to contact the ACLU of Virginia. It really seems like this new regulation in Fairfax should be legally challenged.