Rep. John Rogers Discusses Sex Toy Bill

Yesterday I listened to most of the House session. To be honest, I have become somewhat addicted to listening to our elected officials pretend to conduct the business of the citizens of this state. When they get rolling they are more hysterical than any slap stick comedy routine. I mean you absolutely would not believe some of the things they say and do with the mic on. I know it is an expensive form of entertainment...but really it can't be beat.

Most of yesterday was pretty dull though. Sadist Rep. Mike Hubbard decided to have all the bills read at length as a stalling measure because he was mad that he had been clotured in recent days. Don't you just love it?! Because of Rep. Hubbard's wittle hurt feewings he held up the business of the citizens of this state for hours and hours on one of the very last days of the session. Bump cloturing him....he needs CLOUTING upside the head. I'm talking straight-arm him. Must be nice to have that kind of power. (NOTE: I am not picking on Rep. Hubbard because he is a Republican. Democrats often do the exact same thing.)

I started listening at 1:00 when the House came to order. When I left at 4:30 to pick my husband up from work things had started to move a little bit. When I got home about 5:15 I was stunned to hear Rep. John Rogers discussing HB12 a bill that would repeal the ban on the sale of sex toys in Alabama.

Yesterday morning, as I was contacting many legislators on various bills, I decided to drop Rep. Rogers a note and ask him if that bill was going to be put on the calendar. I also told him that, while I was glad it passed the house judiciary committee unanimously, I was very disappointed that no debate was allowed in committee. I told him I had been waiting for months to witness him discussing that bill. I have no idea if my email had anything to do with his decision to bring it up out of order yesterday or not. Could be just a coincidence.

Anyway, I recorded the session and I have compiled this clip of the sex toy discussion for your viewing/listening pleasure. Please excuse the background noise including a number of occasions where I tell members of my family what bill is being discussed. I haven't mastered the subtleties of Audacity yet.



Long Live Rep. John Rogers!! The legislature would be a much duller and less colorful place without him.






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Off to the State House

This morning around 8:30 I am meeting up with some friends and fellow activists for a morning of committee meetings followed by some targeted lobbying. There are four very important bills up in committee today.

HB601 - A bill that would require permits for stun guns. BAD. If you haven't already please contact the Juduciary committee and ask them to vote NO on this bill.

HB683 - A bill that would provide a way for records expungement of old court cases. GREAT BILL. You know what to do.

HB12 -

Nuff said!

HB738 - This is a GREAT bill that would lower ballot access signature requirements from 3% of the votes cast in the last gubernatorial election to 1.5%. This bill is coming up in Constitution & Elections this morning about the same time that the three other bills are coming up in judiciary. I understand that my election campaign will be used as an example by the sponsor of this bill so I definitely want to be there for that.

Looks like I'll be bouncing around the state house like one of those crazy rubber balls this morning. I hope that you will be able to join me.



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Sex Toy Bill in Judiciary Wednesday

ACTION ALERT!

HB12 a bill introduced by Rep. John Rogers that would repeal the law against the sale of adult novelty devices is coming up in the House Judiciary Committee in Wednesday, April 16 at 8:45 a.m.

I plan to be at that committee meeting. I know y'all remember all the fun we had a few months ago with the Sex Toys for Troy King (page 2) action. That action was inspired by the current law which outlaws the sale of these devices to adults in the state of Alabama. Troy King was the target of the action because he said he planned to try and make the anti-obscenity law in Alabama tougher. Troy might be there since it means so much to him to have control of what citizens are doing in their bedrooms and Dan Ireland and his minions are almost certain to be there which will make for a very memorable day.

I have some pig buttons made that have the pig featured in the original cartoon emblazoned upon them. If your coming to the committee meeting I'll give you one of the ten or so that I have.

Since I will also be working on puppets tomorrow then perhaps I'll make a pig puppet as well.

In the meantime please contact the House Judiciary committee and ask them to pass HB12.

When you contact them you could say something like

"Alabama government has no business regulating what consenting Alabama adults do in the privacy of their own bedroom."

Point out that the 5th Circuit Court overturned a Texas law against the sale of sex toys in Feb. of this year. Point out that the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals while upholding the ban stated "If the people of Alabama in time decide that a prohibition on sex toys is misguided, or ineffective, or just plain silly," the court wrote, "they can repeal the law and be finished with the matter."

Point out to them that many of the states newspaper editorial boards, including the Mobile Press-Register, the Tuscaloosa News, the Times Daily , and the Birmingham News have called for a repeal of the sex toy ban.

You might also send them these cartoons and remind them of the public humiliation that recently befell an elected official who thwarted the will of the people on this issue.





Here is the committee info.

marcel.black@alhouse.org
Charles.Newton@alhouse.org
Steve.McMillan@alhouse.org
Spencer.Collier@alhouse.org
Paul.DeMarco@alhouse.org
Priscilla.Dunn@alhouse.org
Chris.England@alhouse.org
Laura.Hall@alhouse.org
Tammy.Irons@alhouse.org
Jamie.Ison@alhouse.org
Marc.Keahey@alhouse.org
John.Robinson@alhouse.org
Yusuf.Salaam@alhouse.org
Howard.Sanderford@alhouse.org
Cam.Ward@alhouse.org

You may also contact them by phone or fax by clicking on their names at this link.

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Texas Ban on Sex Toy Sales Is Overturned

Associated Press

By ANGELA K. BROWN – 9 hours ago

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — A federal appeals court has overturned a statute outlawing sex toy sales in Texas, one of the last states — all in the South — to retain such a ban.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the Texas law making it illegal to sell or promote obscene devices, punishable by as many as two years in jail, violated the right to privacy guaranteed by the 14th Amendment.

Companies that own Dreamer's and Le Rouge Boutique, which sell the devices in its Austin stores, and the retail distributor Adam & Eve sued in federal court in Austin in 2004 over the constitutionality of the law. They appealed after a federal judge dismissed the suit and said the Constitution did not protect their right to publicly promote such devices.

In its decision Tuesday, the appeals court cited Lawrence and Garner v. Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court's 2003 opinion that struck down bans on consensual sex between same-sex couples.

"Just as in Lawrence, the state here wants to use its laws to enforce a public moral code by restricting private intimate conduct," the appeals judges wrote. "The case is not about public sex. It is not about controlling commerce in sex. It is about controlling what people do in the privacy of their own homes because the state is morally opposed to a certain type of consensual private intimate conduct. This is an insufficient justification after Lawrence."

The Texas attorney general's office, which represented the Travis County district attorney in the case, has not decided whether to appeal, said agency spokesman Tom Kelley.

Phil Harvey, president of Adam & Eve Inc., said the 5th Circuit Court's decision was a big step forward. He said his business plans to expand to sell in stores and at home parties, something company consultants had been fearful of doing because of the Texas law.

"I think it's wonderful, but it does seem to me that since Texas was one of three states in the country — along with Mississippi and Alabama — that continued to outlaw the sale of sex toys and vibrators, that it was probably past time," Harvey said Wednesday.

Alabama is in the 11th Circuit. But now it's unlikely that the law in Mississippi, which also is in the 5th Circuit, will be prosecuted, some legal experts said.

This bodes well for sex toy sales in Alabama. Another suit has been filed which challenges the constitutionality of our current law banning the sale of adult novelty devices. We are also waiting on HB12 sponsored by Rep. John Rogers tha would repeal the current law. So far, it has not been placed on any committee calendar.