FARGO, N.D. — The Fargo City Commission has amended its zoning ordinance, redefining “adult entertainment establishment” in a way that limits the business of adult boutiques in the North Dakota city.
Tightening zoning code regulations is one of the most common ways in which conservative War on Porn crusaders attempt to attack free-speech-protected sex products and businesses in municipalities all over the U.S.
Kim Patterson, owner of the Enchantasys boutique in Fargo, told the local news station that her business will be “drastically hindered now that the zoning ordinance has passed.”
The small, local Enchantasys chain has operated for almost two decades, boasting two locations in Fargo and four other shops across the Midwest.
Patterson contends that “her business will now be classified as an adult bookstore, which she says will cause many impacts,” Valley News Live reported, noting that such impacts include how Enchantasys is “allowed to advertise and their ability to expand or move.”
”The way it’s worded,” Patterson explained, “there isn’t a lot of talk of whether we are grandfathered in. I don’t know if we have to put up signs saying you have to be ‘18+’ now to shop in my store.”
Enchantasys’ attorney, Mark Western, noted that the city “wants to categorize all adult entertainment businesses as the same,” lumping in a local pleasure product outlet like Enchantasys with strip bars or adult bookstores.
XBIZ has been reporting on municipal harassment against adult boutiques in Georgia, Florida and even Brooklyn, New York. These campaigns often involve copycat regulation and they are being watched around the country as a bellwether for local moralists' strategies to restrict free access to sexual expression, education and products via zoning regulations.
Last year, Atlanta-area authorities successfully chased locations of the adult retail chain Tokyo Valentino out of town by using zoning changes and the circular-reasoning “secondary harms” theory pushed by local religious conservatives.
Main Image: Enchantasys boutique in Fargo, N.D. (Source: Enchantasys)
