FC: Utah porn czar stands up for free speech; obscenity law targeted

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

http://www.sltrib.com/2001/dec/12082001/utah/156148.htm

   Surprise Role for Porn Czar: Loosening Up State's Nudity Laws
   Saturday, December 8, 2001
                                      
   BY DAN HARRIE
   THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE 

       As Utah porn czar Paula Houston busily attempts to root out smut
   and obscenity, she also is working to tone down a sweeping -- probably
   unconstitutional -- state law that bans public displays of nudity or
   sex.
       An indecency statute that has been on the books at least 12 years
   is too broad in its restrictions, Houston says, and could be used to
   prosecute exhibits of Michelangelo's classic nude "David" sculpture or
   even displays of bare-breasted women in National Geographic Magazine.
       "It could be used unconstitutionally, and this clarifies it so it
   won't be," Houston says. "We have to operate within the law and I'm
   trying to make the law as clear as possible."
       Houston is working with Rep. Peggy Wallace, R-West Jordan, on
   draft legislation that would narrow the statute's open-ended
   provisions and provide explicit legal protection for displays that
   have serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.

   [...]

http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,49044,00.html

   New Suit Targets Obscenity Law
   By Julia Scheeres
   2:00 a.m. Dec. 12, 2001 PST
   
   A national organization that promotes sexual tolerance and an artist
   who photographs pictures of couples engaged in sadomasochism filed a
   lawsuit Tuesday seeking to overturn Internet obscenity laws.
   
   The National Coalition for Sexual Freedom and photographer Barbara
   Nitke argue that the obscenity provision of the Communications Decency
   Act (CDA) is so broad that it violates free speech.

   [...]
   
   The lawsuit filed Tuesday claims that the obscenity provision outlined
   in Section 502 of the CDA is so vague and arbitrary that it could
   violate speech that should be protected.
   
   The sticky words here are the so-called "local community standards,"
   said John F. Wirenius, the plaintiffs' legal counsel and an attorney
   for civil rights firm Leeds, Morelli & Brown.

   [...]



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