FTRF Sues to Overturn Vermont
Harmful-to-Minors Law
ALA’s Freedom to Read Foundation was one of eight plaintiffs that filed suit February 7 to challenge the constitutionality of a 2000 Vermont law that criminalizes the online dissemination of any nudity or sexual content that someone might deem harmful to minors.
An amendment to the state’s definition of what material is harmful to minors, the law proscribes the transmission of any prurient “description or representation, in whatever form” of nudity or sexual conduct, including touching someone’s clothed buttocks or displays of affection between two men or two women. Public-library workers are exempted from liability in the context of their jobs.
“Similar content-based restrictions by New York, New Mexico, Michigan, and Virginia have been struck down . . . as unconstitutional,” plaintiff attorney Michael A. Bamberger said, adding that the Vermont statute “restricts speech by and to the adult population in the guise of protecting minors.”
Other plaintiffs include the Association of American Publishers, the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont, and the Sexual Health Network.
Posted February 12, 2001.
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