The bills cover a range of issues, including “promoting and defending the institution of marriage” and “protecting communities from pornography,” which the FRC claims “can provide a training manual for abusers.”
The group claims the language of the bills could help assist lawmakers throughout the country in passing conservative laws.
In the booklet, the FRC brags that its model statutes have helped numerous communities deal with the “dangers” posed by adult businesses and materials.
“Citizens around the country are growing more concerned with the negative effects strip clubs and nude bars have on their communities and the dangers they pose to the local economy and the general well-being of an area, not to mention the effects it has on children,” according to the report.
“There have been many other similar cases before the federal and state courts, and also the U.S. Supreme Court. All of these courts have ruled that sexually oriented businesses bring crime to areas in which they do business and that they bring down property values and increase urban blight.”
But, as First Amendment attorney Lawrence Walters said in a recent issue of XBiz World, the use of such model legislation has a poor track record that has cost dozens of communities millions of dollars.
For example, the American Family Association actively solicits communities to draft restrictive adult-business ordinances by providing model ordinances as templates.
"What they don't tell the city is that if they lose, they're going to be left holding the bag for the city's legal fees and ours," Walters told XBiz. "I usually tell people at public hearings, 'I have plenty of business, but if you want to put my kids through college, that's fine by me.' One thing right-wingers hate more than anything is paying an adult entertainment lawyer."
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