Just in time for Valentine's Day

[triadruid]

I missed this one on the news at the time, but Dan Savage just brought it to my attention:

Texas Ban on Sex Toy Sales Is Overturned

Comments

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

Hooray dildos!
(That's something we don't get to say often enough, IMHO.)

[celtic-elk.livejournal.com]

I'm glad to see that they cited the Lawrence decision as precedent - that should open the doors for a host of litigation challenging archaic "blue laws." Plus it adds one more thing to the list of "things to do while escaping my parents' house in Houston." =)

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

Yeah, despite the ostensibly "narrow focus" that the Supremes laid on Lawrence v. Texas when they made it, it's clearly GOT applicability for a broad range of other situations....

[celtic-elk.livejournal.com]

Yeah. It seems like the "narrow focus" they were constructing was to prevent it from being used as a justification for gay marriage, which could leave gaping holes for more lateral moves to legalize other consensual activities.

[rougewench.livejournal.com]

That is a wonderful turn of events.


D.

[gamera-spinning.livejournal.com]

Is it because they make everything bigger in Texas?

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

One would think if that were the case, they'd have enough demand to have overturned the law.

Although, I suppose that only works for dildos; "Texas-sized" pocket pussies is probably not a selling point...

Wheee!

[royal-spice.livejournal.com]

Well, maybe that's why Texas has been so high strung, executing people left and right...no stress relief. ;) Vibrators may be the end of capital punishment! *snerk*

Re: Wheee!

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

One could only hope...

[zylch.livejournal.com]

Virginia's law barring obscene items is a bit different from other state laws and does not appear to apply to sex toy sales

Huh. I wonder if this is why TG's (Lynchburg's local toy store) was listed under "bookstores" in the Yellow Pages.

[fionnabhar.livejournal.com]

Back in a day not so long ago one could buy both dildos and Bongs in Texas, quite often in the same stores, for one-stop shopping. Then the Bad Things™ that started happening in the rest of country started happening in Texas, too.

Really. I wouldn't make this up.

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

What time frame are we talking about here, early 70s?

[fionnabhar.livejournal.com]

Oh, I think drug paraphernalia was outlawed around 1981, but no one really enforced it. You could still buy a nice water pipe in '82, for sure. And I know for a fact you could go into any Spencer's in any mall in 1982 and buy a vibrator. A crappy vibrator, to be sure, but still. A vibrator.

[triadruid.livejournal.com]

Huh, that's much later than I would have expected...

I was only resident in Texas (SA) in *thinks* 1990?

[fionnabhar.livejournal.com]

There was a time in relatively recent history where Texans would be goddamned if anybody told them what the hell they could buy or sell, and fuck 'em if they don't like it. Not sure what happened with that, though, because I was already out of the state when whatever it was went down.