NEW YORK (BP)–New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s battle against smut won a key legal battle Jan. 11 when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal from sex shop owners and the New York Civil Liberties Union.
The Supreme Court’s action upheld a 1998 state supreme court ruling affirming the constitutionality of New York City’s anti-pornography zoning law.
The city’s zoning measure prohibits “adult-use establishments” from operating within 500 feet of a residential district, in an effort to force adult theaters, strip shops, X-rated video stores and other smut businesses to out-of-the-way industrial zones. It was passed by the City Planning Commission in 1995 as part of various Giuliani “quality of life” initiatives for the city.
The New York Supreme Court, in its ruling last year, stated lower courts had adequately considered First Amendment concerns related to the city’s zoning law.
Giuliani called the U.S. Supreme Court ruling “terrific” and told The New York Times it “shows that you can have a sense of balance in all of the ways that we deal with the Constitution, including the free speech clause.”
The U.S. Supreme Court ruling, which sets no national precedent, was issued without comment by any of the justices, but USA Today noted Jan. 12 “supporters say it could embolden other cities to use zoning to combat adult businesses. Dallas, Houston and Los Angeles already have used this approach.” Dennis Saffran, executive director of the Center for the Community Interest in New York City, which helps cities pass such measures, told the paper, “As with a lot of things, people look to New York City as a bellwether.”
The center’s telephone number is (212) 689-6080; Internet site, www.communityinterest.org. Another organization which helps communities battle pornography is the National Coalition for the Protection of Children & Families (formerly the National Coalition Against Pornography) in Cincinnati. Its telephone number is 1-800-557-6227 or (513) 521-6227; Internet site, www.nationalcoalition.org.
“This is a victory for families and children,” coalition CEO Jerry Kirk said of the Supreme Court ruling. “It is a great victory for improving the quality of life in New York City for all those who live there and for those who visit.
“This will help protect men and young people who struggle with attraction and addiction to sexually explicit material and the ways pornography changes their attitudes and behavior toward women,” Kirk added.
Meanwhile, a New York Civil Liberties Union official contended to USA Today concerning the smut operations, “You may not like it, I may not like it, but it’s protected.”
As many as 50 adult establishments in New York City have closed among 175-plus such businesses during Giuliani’s anti-smut campaign, which has included an especially revitalizing effect on once-notorious Times Square.
The city continues to battle an effort by several smut shops to stay open by shedding their “adult” classification by allowing minors to enter. That issue went to the New York Supreme Court’s Appellate Division the week of Jan. 4, The Times reported.
Of the city’s court successes, Giuliani said in a 1998 statement, “Instead of being dragged down by the pessimism of the cynics, we have continually found new ways to improve the city for all New Yorkers.”
Giuliani said the city’s residents “have seen firsthand how sex shops can destroy businesses and damage communities.”
Information about New York City’s battle against smut, including a summary of a 1994 Adult Entertainment Study by the city’s planning department, can be obtained from its Internet page, www.ci.nyc.ny.us, by searching its zoning section.
