Bill sponsor Rep. Evan Olsen
SALT LAKE CITY - You've heard of the drug czar? Now meet the porn czar: Utah has one now.
The state that used to flash a billboard saying "Real Men Don't Need Pornography" now has the nation's first pornography czar. The czar will have little power to prosecute, says the Associated Press, and no jurisdiction over cable television or the Internet; but he or she will draft a new state definition of obscenity and help localities restrict, suppress, or eliminate porn as well as offer information about "the dangers of obscenity."
"The irony of all this is that there have not been that many pornography cases lately,'' says the American Civil Liberties Union's Utah director, Carol Gnade, calling the porn czar idea a solution without a problem. But the National Coalition Against Censorship says it thinks this could inspire other states to create similar positions.
Utah is one state that debates porn at an intense rate. Lately, Playboy is banned from prisons, minors are supposed to be blocked from seeing porn on library computers, yet the most widely advertised adult bookstore in Salt Lake City is actually across the border in Evanston, Wyom., the AP says.
Nevertheless, the Republican lawmaker who sponsored the original bill, state Rep. Evan Olsen, says he was asked about obscenity standards after constituents found their children surfing for cybersex. He says many people wanted to do something but didn't know where to go to do it.
The law puts $75,000 aside for 2001 and calls for $150,000 over future years to hire an ombudsman to handle complaints.
