Anti-porn effort criticized

Anti-porn effort criticized

Thursday, August 03, 2006
By FRED mailto:CONTRADAfcontrada@repub.com

NORTHAMPTON - A local couple who have been campaigning against a proposal to locate an adult-theme store on King Street were told last night that their rhetoric could damage the gay community.

Adam R. Cohen and Jendi Reiter, who live on North Street, formed NoPornNorthampton after Capital Video Corp. of Cranston, R.I., filed plans with the city's Building Department in June.

The company wants to renovate a former Kia car dealership at 135 King St. into an adult-theme store that sells videotapes, DVDs and magazines depicting sex acts.

Although Building Commissioner Anthony L. Patillo denied a building permit, Cohen and Reiter, who are the only two members of NoPornNorthampton, have campaigned relentlessly to regulate adult businesses in the city.

In addition to setting up a Web site, they have gathered more than 500 signatures for proposed zoning changes that would restrict such businesses.

At a meeting set up by Cohen and Reiter at the ServiceNet offices on King Street last night, several members of the public complained that their rhetoric was "over the top" and urged them to be more specific about their concerns.

In particular, some people said that repeated references to men having sex with each other in their literature feeds into negative stereotypes about gay men.

Mark Carmien, who owns Pride and Joy, a store that caters to gay clientele on Crafts Avenue, said he is worried that the ordinances proposed by NoPornNorthampton could be used against his store.

"Pride and Joy could fall under 'adult enterprise' because of the way this is worded," Carmien said. "There are lots of people out there who would like to come after Pride and Joy, and they have let us know that."

Carmien maintained that many, if not most, of the customers of these stores are straight men and deplored the references to sex between men and to pedophilia.

"Look at how you're perpetuating stereotypes and feeding the radical right," he said.
Cohen and Reiter, who traveled to Kittery, Me., last month to observe another store owned by Capital Video and talk with local officials about its ramifications for the community, said it is not their intention to target gay men or even to ban all adult stores from the city.

They said they plan to speak with Mayor Mary Clare Higgins today to get her input on the matter.

What has the world come to. It is now improper to oppose porn! What!!
The Lefties are afraid that anything hinting at saying perversion is a bad thing could be construed as truth. They can't accept the reality of their twisted ideas are beyond the norm of morality. I can't find the words to express how this sickens me.