The Indianapolis Museum of Art is adding its prestige to a needed challenge of a new Indiana law that would create a kind of registry for materials that many might find offensive, but that are nonetheless protected by First Amendment guarantees on free speech and expression.
The museum has teamed with bookstores, publishers and the ACLU of Indiana to challenge the law set to take effect July 1 that would require retailers to register with the state and pay a fee if they want to sell alleged sexually explicit material.
On the face of it, this one may seem hard to argue with. That is why it is critical the façade be peeled back to better understand the potential mischief that lies beneath.
Proponents claim the law is necessary to protect communities from pornography vendors that pop up, especially along interstate highways.
Those proponents argue that the law does not prohibit a business from selling sexually explicit material. It simply requires that business to declare its intent by registering with the state and paying a fee.
This is a bill that never should have been passed in the last Indiana General Assembly.
As we noted here several weeks back, on the sorry occasion of Gov. Mitch Daniels signing the measure into law, the measure is assailable on several fronts.
Critics note, with cause, that the law's language is so broad that it fails to define sexually explicit in a manner that protects an array of literature, photography and matters clearly protected under the First Amendment's broad reach....read more
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment