Georgia Residents Sue Over Law Requiring Prescription For Sex Toys

Well this is a new one. Apparently the town of Sandy Springs, GA requires consumers to obtain a doctor's prescription in order to purchase sex toys. And now one couple is suing for their god given right to buy an Anal Ring Toss or a pair of ball weights without involving their physician.

Consumerist (link below) is reporting on this story that's just a head scratcher from top to bottom.

According to city ordinance 38-120, the sale and purchase of "obscene material" — which includes "any device designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs" — is forbidden in Sandy Springs, with the exception that the sale or purchase may be okay if it is "done for a bona fide medical, scientific, educational, legislative, judicial, or law enforcement purpose." In the suit [PDF] filed last month in a U.S. District Court in Atlanta, two consumers each make their case for wanting to purchase the devices without having to bring a note from the doctor.

One of the plaintiffs is a woman with MS who has used sex toys with her husband since suffering major nerve damage due to her disease, and according to the complaint, "She credits the devices with saving her marriage."

Additionally, the woman says she and her husband have spoken to others in the MS community about the benefits of these toys, and that she sells toys "to others who seek to use them for intimate sexual activity." But the Sandy Springs law prevents her from either buying or selling any such devices in the city. "(Some people) have this dirty mind about how people are going to use it. People really do need devices because they need it for health reasons and to have a healthy intimate life with their spouse," the female plaintiff told Atlanta's Channel 2.

While this story is a bit heartbreaking, the other plaintiff has a completely different, but no less interesting story.

The second plaintiff is a man who buys sex toys both for his own personal use and to be used in his artwork. Because of the Sandy Springs law, he can neither buy the devices nor sell his artwork without proving he has a medical need.

I'm not unsympathetic to this guy's story, but it reminds me of those episodes of Hoarders where they come into somebody's house which is packed full of useless shit, and sometimes literal shit, and they try to say they're artists, or using it for an art project.

While the lawsuit does seek "nominal damages," the female plaintiff says that she isn't looking for money; she just wants a court to strike down the ordinance.

Again, she's just after a common sense solution clearly. That other guy though? He's probably trying to squeeze some money out of this to fund projects like this...

There is no truth to the previous statement

Via Consumerist