NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee Senate has passed a bill requiring adult stores, theaters and other establishments in the state to post warning signs cautioning patrons that they “may be contributing” to sexual assault and human trafficking.
SB 2481/HB 2314 would add provisions to Tennessee’s Adult-Oriented Establishment Registration Act of 1998, prohibiting county boards from issuing licenses to covered businesses unless a sign is posted at each entrance stating: “Attention: By engaging in this type of entertainment, you may be contributing to an increase in domestic assault, rape or sexual assault, and human trafficking.”
Additionally, establishments that sell or rent “sexually oriented materials, including print, video, and other media” must also post signs on all displays of such material, stating: “Attention: By purchasing, borrowing, or using this pornographic material, you may be contributing to an increase in domestic assault, rape or sexual assault, and human trafficking.”
The bill requires signs to be at least 8 1/2 by 11 inches, and printed in at least 48-point type in boldface black letters on a white background.
“Adult-oriented establishments” include bookstores, theaters and any other business that principally offers “sexually-oriented material, devices, or paraphernalia or specified sexual activities, or any combination or form thereof, whether printed, filmed, recorded or live and that restricts or purports to restrict admission to adults or to any class of adults.”
Industry attorney Corey Silverstein told XBIZ, “Conditioning licensure on compelled speech like this raises serious First Amendment concerns, particularly where the government is requiring private businesses to convey a stigmatizing message about their own lawful activity.”
The issue of “compelled speech” has also arisen in other states, where legislators have introduced online age verification bills that would require adult sites to post notices warning users of alleged physical, mental and social harms associated with pornography — despite a previous federal court ruling against such requirements.
Beyond the constitutional issues, Silverstein noted, this kind of policy further marginalizes workers in the adult industry by relying on highly disputed claims rather than evidence-based approaches to addressing violence and exploitation.
“If the goal is public safety, lawmakers should pursue solutions rooted in data,” Silverstein said. “Not messaging mandates that single out a legal industry for moral condemnation.”
A report by the Memphis Flyer, a Tennessee newsweekly, raises serious doubts about the reasoning behind the bill, noting vague, shaky evidence and tenuous connections put forward by the bill's sponsor, Republican state Sen. Janice Bowling, to justify the warning signs.
The bill next goes before the state House of Representatives. If passed by the House and signed into law by the governor, the legislation would become effective immediately.
