Recent complaints by citizens living in Southeast San Diego show that many convenience stores and retail outlets that sell pornographic magazines (including Penthouse, Hustler and Playboy) are in violation of a little known municipal code that was enacted by the San Diego City Council seven years ago.
While these magazines can be legally sold, it is the way they are displayed that violates the San Diego City Municipal Code. The code specifically states that: “it is unlawful to display matter which is harmful to minors, as defined in this section, and Chapter 7.6 of the California Penal Code, in a public place, other than a public place from which minors are excluded, without placement of devices known as blinder racks in front of the material, so that the lower two-thirds of the material is not exposed to view.” [Municipal Code 58.07 paragraph 7(c)]
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In accordance with this ruling, members of Enough is Enough Campaign are asking citizens of the city of San Diego to call 753-1605 and report to them any stores within the city limits that appear to be in violation of this code. In this way, they will be able to visit these stores to see if there actually is a problem. Then, complaints to city officials can be channeled properly so that proper follow up can be made. It is also important to recognize that this code excludes so-called adult book stores because technically they are supposed to exclude the admission of minors in the first place.
Most parents recognize that it’s healthy to preserve the innocence of their children as long as possible. Helping to preserve your child’s innocence is difficult to do in this culture. However, it does not help when you take your child into a convenience store that displays a magazine that shows a woman crouching over exposing herself, as in the recent, offensive cover of Hustler magazine. Magazines like this should be held from the child’s view and access in stores that are open to the public.
The public needs to understand that the porn industry always tries to ‘push the envelope.’ This whole process tends to desensitize the public in what they, culturally and morally, will accept and allow in their communities. For cities that do not have a blinder ordinance, Enough is Enough is strongly encouraging city officials to adopt one.
On Sept. 12 of this year, an important ruling was announced by the State Attorney General. As stated in a recent news release from the National Law Center, the Ninth District Court “upheld the ruling by the federal district Judge Manuel Real that the 1994 Amendment to California’s Harmful to Minors statute, Penal Code 313.1 (c) (2), does not violate the First Amendment. The statute prohibits vendors of material harmful to minors from distributing their materials through unsupervised news racks on public property.”
A state law would have gone into effect on Jan. 1, 1995, that would have effectively outlawed outside, public news racks for distribution of porn. The publishers of the Sun magazine and others were granted a preliminary injunction until this matter can be resolved by the courts. So far the courts have ruled in favor of preserving current law. It is expected that the pornographers will challenge this ruling all the way to the Supreme Court. Further updates will be expected from groups that fight the pornography industry as they occur.
James Lambert is associated with the Enough Is Enough campaign locally. For more information, he can be contacted at 753-1605.
