Yes, the Lion's Den Adult Bookstore in Fayette County, Ohio sold law enforcement officials copies of "Rammin' and Crammin'" and "Guys Who Butt Ball Themselves." However, the store said, the material on those videos is accepted within the community.
The trial court never allowed the adult bookstore to prove it. The store had lined up Dr. Joseph Scott, a sociologist and criminologist, who had personally supervised a scientific public opinion survey that showed the tapes were within accepted community standards. \n But the trial court wouldn't listen. "I don't believe that telephone or public opinion polls are correct ways to determine what is obscene material," the judge said. \n Midwest Pride IV, Inc., which owns the adult bookstore, appealed the decision to the state appeals court. It didn't help. \n The appeals court conceded that the official test for obscenity, as outlined by the U.S. Supreme Court, includes a determination as to whether the material in question violates community standards. It even conceded that a survey might possibly shed some light on that question. \n But not this survey, the appeals court said. Dr. Scott's survey did not specifically ask respondents whether they had seen the two videos and what they thought of them. \n Also, the court said, asking questions about the two videos isn't the same as actually seeing them. There is a big difference in the impact of "the written phrase homosexual fellatio and anal intercourse' and the vivid description of it on video," the appeals court said. \n No word yet on whether Midwest Pride IV will appeal the ruling.
