A while ago, I noticed a very interesting story on the AP’s “Strange News” page, entitled, “Alabama Votes Against Legalizing Sex Toys.”

From the headline, one would assume that the Alabama state legislature was a bunch of tight-assed, Bible-thumping reactionaries. After all, this whole sex-toys flap started in 1998, when the Alabama legislature passed a law making the sale of “any device designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs” illegal (unless that vibrator’s for your back, of course). Look a little closer, though, at the article; the legislature voted against a measure to remove the sex-toy ban from the laws. Because Alabama’s obscenity laws have been twice ruled unconstitutional,

The sponsor of the bill, Rep. John Rogers, D-Birmingham, said because of the court ruling, the obscenity law is unenforceable as long as it contains the ban on sex toys.
“All this does is make our obscenity law constitutional,” Rogers said.
With little serious discussion, the House voted 37-28 to leave the sex toys ban in state law, leaving Rogers standing at the microphone shaking his head.
“What you just did is make our obscenity law illegal. You voted for obscenity,” Rogers shouted at lawmakers.
[emphasis mine]

Good for you, Alabama legislature. Obscenity laws are a violation of the First Amendment, even though various courts have decided to ignore this glaringly obvious fact in the face of public outcry. Your right to free speech cannot be abridged, unless you’re talking about sex.