Vol. 3, No. 17 October 12—25, 1982
The Question of Pornography
by Eric Shindler
Like it or not, adult bookstores are a major
outlet for North Carolina’s gay community.
So on November 12, when the Obscenity
Laws Study Commission meets to decide
what changes to recommend in the state’s
pornography laws, there could be a great
impact on our community. To help put things
in perspective, The Front Page is running this
two-part article. The first part discusses the
legal background and the current anti-porn
campaign in North Carolina. The second part,
in our next issue, will deal with the touchy
subject of child pornography and with the
specific cases brought against bookstores in
the past year.
North Carolina uses three separate
methods to deed with the “problem” of
obscenity. One state law prohibits the
distribution or sale of an item previously
determined by a court to be obscene. Another
state law, the so-called “sex supermarket”
statute, is unique to North Carolina and
prohibits more than one “adult
establishment” under the same roof. The
third method, which is used by cities and
counties in the exercise of their zoning
authority, is to regulate obscenity by
controlling the location of adult bookstores
and theaters.
Each of these methods has been upheld by
the North Carolina and United States
Supreme Courts, and persons have been
subjected to prosecution in North Carolina
under all three. However, the operators of
adult establishments have continued to
operate, and anti-porn forces have decided
that some legal loopholes need to be closed.
The focus of the Obscenity Laws Study
Commission has been directed at the most
famous “loophole”—the requirement of an
adversary hearing before someone can be
prosecuted for selling obscene material. The
focus of the commission, therefore, has been
on the first of the methods outlined above, the
law which makes it a crime to sell or distribute
obscene material. The commission has not
spent too much time on the other two
methods, probably for different reasons.
The “sex supermarket” law has been
largely ineffective because adult bookstores
have found ways to get around it. The intent of
the law was to make adult bookstores
unprofitable and thus drive them out of
business. The idea was that if a bookstore
could not sell magazines and also sell dildos
and poppers and other sex toys, and also
have coin-operated movie booths, then the
bookstores would go out of business.
However, most bookstores have either
dropped one of their product lines or, more
commonly, added non-obscene material to
their stock. By adding used books that
nobody ever buys, these bookstores have
managed—they hope—to avoid the “sex
supermarket” law.
The municipal zoning ordinances have
caused the bookstores some trouble (as we’ll
discuss next issue). However, no ordinance
can legally prohibit all adult bookstores, and
virtually every town of any size has at least
one.
The anti-porn forces presumably have
decided that if their goal is to stop all
pornography, both zoning and the “sex
supermarket” concept are doomed to failure.
So they have turned their attention to the
procedures mandated by the state’s basic
obscenity law, G.S. 14-190.1-11.
The obscenity law makes it a misdemeanor
for anyone to sell obscene material, which is
defined as any pictorial representation of
either “normal” or “perverted” sexual
intercourse or other sexual activity (such as
masturbation). However, such material is
obscene only if, taken as a whole, it is patently
offensive in light of current community
standards.
Most importantly, the obscenity law
requires an adversary hearing before any
criminal prosecution can be initiated. Before
arresting anyone for selling obscene material,
the law enforcement officer has to go to court
with the material so the court can determine if
it is obscene. Once the court has said that,
yes, that item sold by that bookstore is
obscene, the law enforcement officer then
must return to the bookstore to see if the item
in question is still being sold. The bookstore
operator can be prosecuted only if he (or she)
sells the item again, after the court’s decision
that it is obscene.
Even civil libertarians agree that the effect
of the adversary hearing requirement is to
make it impossible to prosecute sellers of
pornography in North Carolina. However,
Thomas L. Telford, representing the North
Carolina Civil Liberties Union, argued at an
August hearing before the Obscenity Laws
Study Commission that the requirement
protects North Carolina from an “intellectual
reign of terror.” He accused the anti-porn
forces of attempting to impose their moral
standards on others.
On the other hand, those against
pornography argue that the adversary
hearing requirement has made North
Carolina “the smut capital of the nation,” in
the words of the Rev. Coy Privette, executive
director of the Christian Action League
(Gastonia Gazette 2/19/82). Privette’s
comment apparently stems from a report
solicited by the Raleigh News and Observer
(3/8/81) showing that the Carolinas lead the
nation in the number of adult movie theaters
per capita. Most theater owners contend that
porno movies are popular here not because
the obscenity laws are lenient but because
Bible-thumpers like Privette have created an
atmosphere of sexual repression.
Opponents of pornography disagree
among themselves about the need to close
loopholes in the state’s obscenity law.
Attorney General Rufus Edmisten told an
anti-porn rally in Greensboro March 30 that it
was time for law enforcement officials “to get
with it” and enforce the law. He argued that
the North Carolina laws had been upheld in
the courts and the only new law the state
needed was a tough law on child
pornography.
However, the assistant attorney general
primarily responsible for prosecuting
pornography cases on appeal, Marvin
continued on page 9
St. John’s MCC:
Members of St. John’s MCC signed a
petition to become a chartered church during
its annual congregational business meeting on
September 19. Following the procedures
outlined by the Universal Fellowship of
Metropolitan Community Churches
(UFMCC), St. John’s first became a “Study
Group” (a church body with membership
numbering less than 25) in 1976. Three years
later the congregation, under the leadership
of its founder, the Rev. Willie White, was
granted “Mission” status.
The UFMCC requires a Mission to
progress toward chartered church status by:
(a.) Having an active membership of 35 or
more; (b.) Supporting a full time pastor; (c.)
Actively engaging in outreach and inreach
programs and activities. St. John’s MCC
fulfills those requirements.
The petition will be acted upon by the
district’s Board of Home Missions'during the
fall conference to be held at Charlotte
November 5, 6, and 7. Upon approval by the
District, the application will be sent to the
Board of Elders of the UFMCC for their
approval.
Other business acted upon included the
signing of another year’s contract with their
pastor, the Reverend June Norris; removing
the church’s office from the pastor’s
residence by renting a separate facility;
approving the proposed budget for the final
quarter of 1982 and selecting a committee to
begin studying ways and means of raising
funds for the purchase of church hymnals.
St. John’s MCC provides a worship service
with Holy Communion each Sunday at 2:45
pm. There’s a coffee hour after the service
with a pot luck dinner each fourth Sunday.
There’s also a Bible Study on Tuesdays at 7:30
pm and a secular Talk Time Thursdays at 8
pm. All activities take place at the corner of
Wade Avenue and Dixie Trail, and are open to
everyone. . .straight, white, black, etc... no
one is excluded.
Signed for the Hearing Impaired
St. John’s MCC's worship services are now
being signed for the hearing impaired. Jack
Adcox, who is transferring to Raleigh from
MCC Princeton (NJ), has been appointed as
the official interpreter.
From its inception in 1968, the Universal
Fellowship of Metropolitan Community
Churches has urged all church bodies to
provide this valuable service for those who
would otherwise be excluded from the
fullness of the worship experience. The
UFMCC’s General Conference, which meets
biannually, provides interpreters from
various parts of the world to sign all business
meetings and worship services.
St. John’s MCC would encourage our
community’s participation in making known
this new outreach to those who may benefit.
Living behind a wall of silence can be a very
lonely place. Signing penetrates that wall and
tells those behind it... “We care!”
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