By Peter Berton
SANDY SPRINGS, Ga. – Multiple sclerosis patient Melissa Davenport has taken the Atlanta suburb of Sandy Springs to court over a city ordinance prohibiting the purchase of sex toys.
Davenport turned to sex toys after MS disrupted the nerve pathways “to my intimate areas, to the point where I had no feeling,” she told WSB-TV News. Sex toys solved the problem and saved her marriage, she said.
“People really do need devices because they need it for health reasons and to have a healthy intimate life with their spouse,” she told the TV news reporter.
Unfortunately for Davenport and others like her, under a 2009 Sandy Springs ordinance, “Any device designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs is obscene material.” The only lawful rationale for purchasing devices is “a bona fide medical, scientific, educational, legislative, judicial, or law enforcement purpose.”
Davenport could get around what she characterized as the “dirty minds” of local officials with a doctor’s prescription, but so far her doctors have declined to help.
Enter attorney Gerry Weber, who is representing Davenport and a co-plaintiff in a constitutional challenge to the Sandy Springs ordinance. According to Weber, the sex-toy ban violates the 14th Amendment’s right to privacy. The ban also violates the First Amendment’s freedom-of-expression clause, as in the case of the second plaintiff, Marshall Henry, an artist who wants to incorporate sex toys in his artwork.
“People have the right to decide for themselves whether these devices help their intimate life, and the government has no business being in the bedroom and second guessing that decision,” Weber said. “The ordinance basically says the government can stick its nose in your bedroom and say you can use this but not that.”
The City of Sandy Springs has not commented on the lawsuit beyond saying the city attorney expects to file a response in June.
The lawsuit seeks only to overturn the ordinance, not to collect financial awards for damages or emotional distress.
