Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has filed a brief, arguing that towns have the right to regulate sexually oriented businesses seeking to operate within their borders, according to recently published report. The brief comes as a direct challenge to Very Intimate Pleasures (VIP), an adult chain whose proposal to open another store in Berlin was recently rejected by the city. Legal representatives of the store are challenging the city ordinance, calling it unconstitutional.
According to conservative news organization OneNewsNow.com, Berlin officials rejected VIP's proposal on the grounds that it would violate the city's sexually-oriented business ordinance. The statute bars adult businesses from operating within 250 feet of residential property. VIP, however, is arguing that this kind of restriction violates its First Amendment Rights.
VIP attorney Dan Silver told the Hartford Courant that his client would resist the state's motion to enter the case as an amicus curiae, or "friend of the court."
Silver said that VIP is challenging the ordinance because it restricts the location of the business when there is no proof it will cause secondary effects such as crime. Silver told the Courant that VIP is a "take-out only" store where products are used or viewed off-site and said that the town based its regulations on studies that focused on adult nightclubs and nude theaters.
Silver added that the issue is a local matter rather than a case with much larger ramifications, as Blumenthal has lobbied for in his brief.
