Regardless on your feelings about the decency of a store selling sex toys, you should be concerned when the Alabama Supreme Court begins to make judgments on what defines “public morality” in a person’s private life.
As Associate Justice Michael Bolin wrote in the majority opinion, “Public morality can still serve as a legitimate rational basis for regulating commercial activity, which is not a private activity.” Love Stuff, a store that sells adult toys, a 1998 Alabama statute after the City of Hoover, Al, sought to enforce the statute.
The store is located in an affluent suburb of Birmingham which doesn’t seem to draw vagrants or increase criminal activity. One interpretation of this ruling would allow the Alabama Supreme Court to dictate what is moral and what isn’t. That is a scary proposition.
As the Birmingham News reports “[T]he law, passed in 1998, prohibits the sale of “any device designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs.” Exceptions are given for medical, scientific, educational and other purposes. Love Stuff requires customers to sign a statement declaring their purchase is for one of the listed reasons.”
