So this is apparently a thing now.
Customers and businesses are suing the city of Sandy Springs over an ordinance that requires people to, in essence, have a prescription to buy sexual devices.
The ordinance prohibits the selling of sexual devices unless the customer has a bona fide medical, scientific, educational, legislative, judicial or law enforcement purpose. Experts are taking that to mean that you need a doctor’s prescription or other proof that the device will be used for one of those purposes.
“(Some people) have this dirty mind about how people are going to use it. People really do need devices because they need it for health reasons and to have a healthy intimate life with their spouse,” plaintiff Melissa Davenport tells WSB. Davenport suffers from multiple sclerosis, which has affected her sex life. She claims that sex toys saved her marriage.
“The ordinance basically says the government can stick its nose in your bedroom and say you can use this but not that,” said Davenport’s attorney, Gerry Weber.“People have the right to decide for themselves whether these devices help their intimate life, and the government has no business being the bedroom and second guessing that decision.”
This brings to mind Atlanta’s “dildo wars” of the mid-1990’s, where outdated obscenity laws led to police raiding several adult shops. Those laws were eventually struck down.
There’s also shades of the Cheshire Bridge rezoning fight from last year, which would have pushed out several adult businesses. That proposal ultimately failed.
If any of our Sandy Springs readers have been turned away from buying a sexual device, or even better, have a copy of the proof or “prescription” you used to get the device, e-mail us with the details. And yes, we’ll leave your name out if you wish.
psaunders@thegavoice.com | @patricksaunders