SPRINGFIELD, MO, and LOUISVILLE, KY — Two video stores thousands of miles apart have sparked protests because they offer adult entertainment.The events at both outlets — Family Video in Springfield, Mo, and Theatair X outside Louisville, KY — are indicative that Christian fundamentalists do not intend to give up their battle to ban smut, regardless whether retail establishments protect children and follow applicable laws.
In Springfield, a father was appalled when his 7-year-old son discovered Family Video sequestered an “adults-only” video selection in a separate room at the back of the store. Primarily, he was outraged that a store calling itself “Family” Video would offer videos that are undeniably not family friendly.
“It was a surprise to me,” Mark Kiser told the local newspaper, the News-Leader. “I knew places like Paradise [Video] did pornography. The sign [there] says ‘adult entertainment,’ so everybody knows what you are getting when you go there.”
In response to the discovery, Kiser coordinated several Christian groups to protest outside the store once a week. People have manned picket lines for nearly three months. They don’t want just the adult-entertainment customers to stop shopping there — they want everyone to withhold business until the store removes the adult materials, which most likely are the most profitable rentals in the store’s inventory.
The dispute, of course, has veered into constitutional territory.
The picketers’ “First Amendment right to protest is the same one that protects us to rent those videos,” Family Video manager Tim Sedivy told the News-Leader.
In counterpoint, Kiser asserted Supreme Court rulings have indicated pornography is not protected speech. Therefore, he noted, the group may seek legal assistance to remove the material from the store.
Ironically, the protestors seem to be having an effect opposite to their intent, and reportedly they’ve resorted to using language that is decidedly not family friendly.
“I told them to get a life last weekend, and they told me [profanity],” Kathy Lewis said. “A lot of people didn’t even know [pornography] was there until they started advertising it for the place.”
In Louisville, Reclaim Our Culture Kentuckiana (ROCK) has mounted a condemnatory billboard outside Theatair X after the group was unsuccessful in getting local authorities to close the store. The billboard features a picture of a young family with the words “No Place for Illegal Porn” and asks area residents to insist officials close the store.
“[I]n this instance, we met resistance unlike any we have ever encountered from the public officials who could do something to protect our children, families and community,” ROCK President Bryan Wickens told Focus on Family Action’s CitizenLink. “This billboard is just one part of our strategy to give citizens a tool to use to be part of the solution.”
Wickens’ solution assumes there is a problem, which Theatair X’s owners deny. They say the store operates well within the boundaries of constitutional law and local ordinances.
